Of the 100 wineries chosen as Wine & Spirits Top 100 Wineries of the Year, announced on Monday, five percent have organic estate vineyards - and not just a few vines, but sizable estates.
And in case you didn't know, only about 2.5% of California vineyards are certified organic; the fact that the top 100 features twice as many organic growers as there are in the state should say something…quietly…
Here are the winning wineries, in the international competition, for 2014:
NAPA
Frog's Leap - 130 estate acres and 70 additional acres; estate vines first certified in 1989
Storybook Mountain Vineyards - 42 acres; estate vines certified in 2008
SANTA CLARA AND SONOMA
Ridge Vineyards - 277 acres total (including its Monte Bello and Sonoma estates); estate vines first certified in 2011 (and continuing to transition today)
SAN LUIS OBISPO
Qupé - 40 acres; certified in 2009
OREGON
King Estate - 470 acres; certified in 2012
In addition, two of the featured wineries buy organic grapes (Bergstrom and Big Table Farm) while another Concha y Toro includes the organic wine giant Bonterra in its extensive portfolio.
All of these wineries and their wines from certified organic or Biodynamic vines will be featured in Our Next Big Project (stay tuned for news of this development - sign up for our email newsletter - on the top right of this page).
A large portion of the big table farm production is organic including our Wirtz Vineyard which is technically 'estate' fruit that we do farm organically... : )
ReplyDeleteClare - thanks for this info. We cover only wines from certified vines and hope to feature your own vineyard wines as soon as they are certified. In the meantime, let us not fail to mention your lovely Brooks Riesling and Cattrall PInot Noir, both from certified vines…and both extremely worthy of attention.
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