Saturday, October 25, 2008

Day 187 of our Green Year: Organic Wine

Here at the ranch, we are not big alcohol drinkers, but on occasion we do enjoy having wine. However, wine is not exactly a sustainable product as it takes energy and land resources to make it. However, along with many other things in our world, wine is now going organic as well.

Layla and I want to make sure that when we have wine to celebrate New Years Eve, our anniversary or Christmas, that it is wine that was grown in a sustainable manner. Hence, from now on we will ensure that the wine we do buy is wine that is organic and sustainable. Some of the varieties that we have found, and will try out to find the best, are the following:

  • Tiny Medlock Ames is in Sonoma and it uses 100 percent solar powered machinery, sheep to trim weeds and organic grapes for its Bell Mountain Ranch Red.
  • Bonterra has 1,000 acres of natural and organic vineyards in Ukiah, California, where they deal with pests by using native insects. They produce Syrah, which is a great wine from what we have read.
  • In Oregon, you will find Cooper Mountain, a 123 acre estate that has organic and salmon safe wine (don't know why salmon play into it but they do). They joined a carbon emissions elimination program with 23 other Oregon wineries as well. Their signature wine is the Pinot Noir.
We are currently looking to find some wine that is produced in the Okanagan in an organic and sustainable manner. If anyone knows of one, please let us know by sending us an e-mail to craigbaird@wildmail.com

There are also plenty of organic beers out there, or you can make your own like one of our readers does. if you want organic beer, which by law has to be 95 percent made from organic ingredients, you can try the following blends.
  • Butte Creek Brewing's Mateveza
  • Veec Acai Spirit
  • 4 Copas (the only organic tequila in the world)
  • Maison Jomere
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Below is a picture of me with the new Greenpeace calendar. Purchases of the calendar go towards helping Greenpeace keep the world clean and safe for the environment.