photo credit goes to Double Tree Hilton (formerly known as Gaia, Napa Valley's first LEED Gold hotel)
Living and growing up in one of the world's premier wine destinations, I would be remiss in my duties if I neglect to cover the topic of wines. I'm constantly on the hunt for great wines, and as a relative newbie to the whole wine scene (terrible to admit as I've lived here for 25+ years) I'm finding it quite an enjoyable education!When I decided to venture into the wine world, I wanted to know about how the wine was produced. What did they add to it? How were the vineyards tended? Did they use pesticides or fungicides? On my hard and ardous quest (because wine tasting is so taxing!) I found out quite a bit of information!
There are three ways a winery can be green; sustainable, organic, and biodynamic. While the federal government has definitions for organic; sustainable and biodynamic aren't defined. If you don't know what that any of this means, see the footnote as I put the best definition I can find.
In my anxious state I can barely recall how the wine tasted at Hess Collection. I do recall the beautiful artwork housed in the old building they remodeled. The grounds are breathtaking.
Nicholson Ranch is a beautiful property. They have a cave that's worth a look. The resevoir is really what pulled me into the property.
Benziger has beautiful grounds, and practice biodynamic farming. The caves are amazing, and so are the wines. My date loved the 2007 Petite Sirah Port. Albeit, it came from their sister winery Imagery, but it's all in the family! I took a few pictures (see below) just to give you a small idea of how their winery looks. Unfortunately, my photos does not do the winery justice!!! :(
Benziger has beautiful grounds, and practice biodynamic farming. The caves are amazing, and so are the wines. My date loved the 2007 Petite Sirah Port. Albeit, it came from their sister winery Imagery, but it's all in the family! I took a few pictures (see below) just to give you a small idea of how their winery looks. Unfortunately, my photos does not do the winery justice!!! :(
Franciscan also has beautiful grounds and good God did I fall in love with the Fountain Court White Wine blend. I ended up buying two bottles of the Fountain Court and two bottles of the Rose, which I do have to say I wish I bought four bottles of the Fountain Court instead. Chris (or was it Steve) opened up the Mt. Veeder Cab Sauv for us to taste and boy was it delicious. Even though it was $100.00 a bottle I sure am going to purchase it sometime soon! OH BOY! Took a photo at the gorgeous fountain.
McKenzie-Mueller was "off the beaten path", which is by appointment only. I got in because I took a tour on Platypus Tours Ltd. (which was amazing btw). I ended up buying several bottles of their Sauvignon Blanc over the next few months. The winery is small and family owned, and although it doesn't have all the bells and whistles a larger property has the wine is excellent. It should be, the winemaker was the head enologist at Mondavi for 19 years.
Here are links to a few wineries that I've been to and enjoy! This is by no means a comprehensive list, just a few stops along the way that I've taken. I not only enjoyed their wine, but was able to enjoy their sustainable, organic, and/or biodynamic efforts! Check their respective websites for tour and tasting availabilities!
Here is a good resource for all the "green wineries".
http://www.calwineries.com/travel/spotlight/102-california-wineries-going-green
Sonoma Green Wineries:
http://www.sonoma-county.org/sonomagreen/green_listings.htm#wineries
Napa Green Wineries:
http://www.napagreen.org/wineries/
sustainable agrigculture: the act of farming using principles of ecology, the study of relationships between organisms and their environment.
organic: The principal methods of organic farming include crop rotation, green manures and compost, biological pest control, and mechanical cultivation.
biodynamic: Biodynamic is similar to organic farming in that both take place without chemicals, but biodynamic farming incorporates ideas about a vineyard as an ecosystem, and also accounting for things such as astrological influences and lunar cycles. A biodynamic wine means that the grapes are farmed biodynamically, and that the winemaker did not make the wine with any common manipulations such as yeast additions or acidity adjustments. A wine “made from biodynamic grapes” means that a vintner used biodynamically grown grapes, but followed a less strict list of rules in winemaking.
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