Luxury Life & Style

organic wineS Shine Bonterra family Bonnie’S recommended organic winerieS H oregon sokolblosser.com brickhousewines.com kingestate.com beauxfreres.com mendocino/LaKe coUnTY bonterra.com lolonis.com naPa/Sonoma: the winemakers I most respect couple sustainably farmed grapes with minimal trickery at the winery. While pumping, fining, filtering, acidifying or watering back wines that are out of balance may correct winemaking errors, this also strips wines of specificity of place and vintage. This is where terroir meets marketing. One of my very favorite portfolio of wines, the Beaune Imports collection, features wines from such superstars as Comtes-Lafon and the de Montille properties in Burgundy. Justin Gallen, a friend who sells these terrific wines and others for the Rinascimento Wine Company in Los Angeles, explains it this way: “I certainly use the fact that a producer is organic or biodynamic to help sell their wines.” Gallen sees this marketing angle for both imported and domestic wines and notes that “Whether the wineries are from France, Spain, Austria or Italy, or even California, Oregon and Washington, if a producer is using organic or biodynamic viticultural practices to grow their grapes, I know that they are going to take more care in the production of their wine, have more concern for a healthy environment and also be more concerned about the public perception of their wines than producers who do not use these practices.” I agree. The next time you’re making a wine purchase, do a little investigating beyond the davisbynum.com benziger.com coturriwinery.com frogsleap.com grgich.com robertsinskey.com volkereiselevineyard.com cenTraL coaST almarosawinery.com wildhorsewinery.com beckmenvineyards.com presidiowinery.com eUroPean PorTFoLioS Bonterra: mcnab water Pond beauneimports.com northberkeleyimports.com chartrandimports.com kermitlynch.com reSoUrceS label language itself. Read up online or ask a trusted retailer or sommelier what organic wines really shine, and make drinking better wines an opportunity to better the planet as well. It takes more detective work, but the results may be worth the effort. Here are a few resources and wineries that I personally recommend, but do ferret our your own “green” wines, too. I would love to hear about your discoveries. Cheers! • greenopia.com demeter-usa.org tilth.org ota.com 78 Luxury Life & Style March/April 2008 sokolblosser.com brickhousewines.com kingestate.com beauxfreres.com bonterra.com lolonis.com davisbynum.com benziger.com coturriwinery.com frogsleap.com grgich.com robertsinskey.com volkereiselevineyard.com almarosawinery.com wildhorsewinery.com beckmenvineyards.com presidiowinery.com beauneimports.com northberkeleyimports.com chartrandimports.com kermitlynch.com greenopia.com demeter-usa.org tilth.org ota.com

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