May 23 Is World Chardonnay Day - How Will You Celebrate?

Sunset Wine Competition Awards: Organic Winners!

The results of Sunset Magazine's 2013 Wine Competition are in. Here are the organically grown wines and their competition scores.

It's an uneven contest - many of the best wines are not entered, but the results are still fun to evaluate.

A few of my favorites did well and I hope this brings them a wider audience - Volker Eisele Terzetto (a steal at $75 compared to other Bordeaux blends in its league). Ampelos won best in class for its Syrah.

In addition, it's always amazing to me how well Bonterra does compared to wines that are 2-5 times its price. Its Chardonnay did well as did its Pinot Noir and Zinfandel with all three winning silver medals (against stiff competition).

Cabernet Sauvignon 2009
Gold
2009 Rocca Family Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley, Yountville Grigsby Vineyard $80.00
Silver
2009 Grgich Hills Estate Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley Estate Grown $60.00
Bronze
2009 Long Meadow Ranch Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley $47.00
2009 Rocca Family Vineyards Vespera Napa Valley $50.00
2009 V. Sattui Winery Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley Preston Vineyard $49.00

Cabernet Sauvignon 2010
Gold
2010 Signaterra Cabernet Sauvignon Sonoma Valley Three Blocks $50.00
Bronze
2010 Bonterra Cabernet Sauvignon California Made with Organic Grapes 87% Mendocino County/13% Lake County $15.99

Chardonnay 2010
Bronze
Alma Rosa Chardonnay Sta. Rita Hills El Jabali Vineyard $28.00
Terra Savia Chardonnay Mendocino Made with Organic Grapes Sanel Valley Vineyards,
Estate Grown, Limited Release $13.50

Chardonnay 2011
Silver
2011 Bergström Wines Sigrid Chardonnay Oregon, Willamette Valley $80.00
2011 Bonterra Chardonnay Mendocino County Made with Organic Grapes $13.99

Bronze
2011 Signaterra West Rows Chardonnay Carneros Made with Organically Grown Grapes Sangiacomo Vineyard $32.00

Merlot 2008
Bronze
2008 Grgich Hills Estate Merlot Napa Valley Estate Grown $42.00

Pinot Noir 2009
Bronze
2009 Ampelos Lambda: The Magnitude, Pinot Noir Sta. Rita Hills Ampelos Vineyard $35.00

Pinot Noir 2010
Gold
2010 Alma Rosa Pinot Noir Sta. Rita Hills La Encantada Vineyard $43.00
2011 Signaterra Pinot Noir Russian River Valley Bella Luna Vineyard $49.00
2011 Bonterra Pinot Noir Mendocino County Made with Organic Grapes $15.99
Silver
2011 Bergström Wines Pinot Noir Oregon, Dundee Hills Bergström Vineyard $80.00
2011 Bergström Wines Pinot Noir Oregon, Chehalem Mountains de Lancellotti Vineyard $65.00

Red Meritage or Bordeaux Blend
Gold
2008 Volker Eisele Family Estate Terzetto Napa Valley $75.00
Bronze
2009 Terra Savia Reserve Meritage Mendocino Made with Organic
Grapes Sanel Valley Vineyards, Estate Grown, Limited Release $18.00

Rose
Bronze
2012 Verdad Grenache Rose Edna Valley Demeter Certified Biodynamic® Grapes Sawyer Lindquist Vineyard $18.00

Sauvignon Blanc
Bronze
2011 Bonterra Sauvignon Blanc 53% Lake County, 47% Mendocino County Made with Organic Grapes $13.99

Syrah/Shiraz, Vintage 2009
Best of Class, Gold
2009 Ampelos Syrah Sta. Rita Hills Ampelos Vineyard $35.00

Zinfandel 
Silver
2010 Bonterra Zinfandel Mendocino County Made from Organic Grapes $15.99

OAKLAND DWELLERS - VERDAD ROSE AT FARMER JOES

Pay no attention to the label on the box -
but to what's inside - VERDAD 

Just saw one of my favorite roses ON SALE and AT THE LOCAL MARKET - Verdad 2012 Rose is just $11.99 at Farmer Joe's on Fruitvale in Oakland.

This normally sells for $18 from the winery.

Grown from biodynamic grapes in San Luis Obispo County, this is a summer MUST.

At this price - and right down the street - be sure to stock up!

Philanthropy through Wine Buying: Check Out the Auction Napa Valley's Organic Vintners' E-Offerings

If you're feeling like becoming a philanthropist by buying wine, you can peruse the Auction Napa Valley online offerings, and find some fabulous Napa wineries' exciting offerings.

You can bid on these items online - or just fantasize about them. And then think about how much less wear and tear it is on you, not having to go to Meadowood for the auction, avoiding sweating it out in traffic, or the stress of finding shoes to go with your glamorous gown.

Now you can just enjoy the auction online with these offerings:

• Ehlers Estate

Lunch and tour for 4, plus a bottle of wine

• Frog's Leap

Large format Cabernet Sauvignon

• Gamble Family Vineyards

Overnight accommodations for three nights for 8 people plus wine

• Grgich Hills

Two night overnight stay for up to 6 people, tour, and wine

• HALL Wines - Dinner with Kathryn

Dinner for 12 with Kathryn Hall in the HALL Wine caves

• HALL Wines - Cabernet Vertical

Imperial bottles of cabernet sauvignon from a four year period

• Heitz Wine Cellars 

A 12 year vertical of their Trailside Cabernet Sauvignon (some are CCOF certified years)

• Inglenook

A magnum of 2005 Rubicon

• Madonna Estates

36 bottles of wine

• Neal Family Vineyards

Dinner for 12 and 12 magnums of wine

• Rocca Family Estates

Overnight stay for 2 nights, plus 6 bottles of wine

• Tres Sabores

Overnight stay for 2, including breakfast, lunch and dinner, and 24 bottles of wine, including 2 magnums

Moyers: Public Health Historians Take Chemical Companies to Task over Lead Poisoning

I've just spent two days at a health technology conference in Mountain View where everyone wants to reform American's lifestyles by giving them Fitbits or BodyMedia or other wearable devices. Sadly they're not focused on environmental health...at least not yet. (I'm fantasizing a hackathon on pesticide apps).

They think genetics is still The Next Big Thing along with Big Data which is totally taking over the town.

And yet - there's a glimmer of hope for more awareness of the toxic soup we've created. Today's latest show from Bill Moyers provides some hopeful evidence of people publicizing one major chemical that government has been totally unable to deal with, due to the strong role of chemical company lobbying - lead. This, despite years of efforts by public health officials.

The story illustrates how government fails to combat chemical companies even when the dangers are obvious.

Could this growing awareness - the new film Unacceptable Levels, this show on Moyers - be good news for organic growers who've long provided a healthy alternative to chemical farming's toxic soup?

 

And in case you missed it, here's a print story about this feature.

Elizabeth Spencer's Organically Grown Sauvignon Blanc Release Party - Saturday, June 29

Located in a charming brick building with a lovely courtyard for seated tastings, Elizabeth Spencer Wines will be hosting a release party with oysters, paella and its latest organically grown Sauvignon Blanc (sourced from Mendocino).

The action takes place 4-7 pm at the winery, just across from Rutherford Grill.

Tickets are $35 for wine club members and $55 for the general public.

Unacceptable Levels Film Coming to SF Green Film Festival in June

Coming soon - a new film about chemicals - including pesticides - in our bodies. Unacceptable Levels will be featured at the SF Green Film Festival Sunday June 2 at 3 pm at New People Cinema in SF.

Of course, the main reason for some people to drink organically grown wines (like I do) is that these growers aren't pouring tons of chemicals into the water, land and air, creating the toxic soup that other growers heavily contribute to.

When people start to realize that cancer and autism are caused at least in part by these chemicals, they will look back on this time as barbaric as leeching to cure illness or spraying DDT - without understanding that it causes birds and fish (and people) to die.

I don't necessarily with everything in the film, since I've read that the filmmaker is concerned about chlorine and fluoride. I am more concerned about pesticides which we KNOW are harmful.

A large number of environmental organizations partnered in sponsoring the film - I hope it will be seen by a wide audience.

A shoutout to local participants:

• Davis Baltz, Precautionary Principle Director at Commonweal in Bolinas

• U.C. Berkeley Professor Tyrone Hayes, known for his pioneering work on atrazine, the popular herbicide that makes frogs change gender - and that is now linked to breast cancer.

You can read more about it on HuffPo.

Here's the movie trailer:

 

For the first time, the festival will also screen some of its films in Berkeley at the Brower Center, making it easier for East Bay-ers to enjoy a screening.

Get the details here.

Memorial Day in Oregon Wine Country - Party On

Wineries with organically grown wines are part of the festivities during the Willamette Valley's Memorial Day in Wine Country weekend.

Included are:

Bergstrom

Bethel Heights

Cooper Mountain (biodynamic)

Evesham Wood

Lemelson

Maysara

Montinore

Sokol Blosser (a few wines are organically grown on their estate)

There's also a class on enjoying wine, a mobile route, and suggested tours on their web site.

For more info, see here.

SOMM Film - To Play Mendocino Film Festival in June

Interested in seeing the hot new film SOMM about sommeliers (wine directors) competing?

This feature doc plays June 1 and 2 at the Mendocino Film Festival.

Check out the trailer here.



For more details, check out the Wine Spectator's review here or visit the film's Facebook page here.

The Mendo screenings may also be paired with tasting events scheduled with local wineries - but none of the area's organically grown wines will be featured in these scheduled tastings. However, you could easily make your own tour of the area's top organic vintners which would include Handley Cellars and Yorkville Cellars, a lovely trip through Anderson Valley.

The film premiered at the Napa Valley Film Festival in 2012.

Yorkville Cellars: Vertical Cab Tasting Saturday May 18

Yorkville Cellars, just south of Anderson Valley in Mendocino, will be holding a vertical tasting of its Cabernets this Saturday from noon to 4 pm at the winery.

It's a beautiful site and picnicking is available in the shade of a lovely tree outside the tasting room.

Details here (scroll down to the events section on that link).