Celebrating 100 Years at Madonna Estate

Saturday Madonna Estate celebrated its 100th anniversary as a winemaking family. Here are a few scenes from the party at their Carneros tasting room and winery. 

Read more about their history here. The second oldest winemaking family in Napa, they were also among the first in Napa to be certified organic, back in 1991. They farm 150 acres in the Carneros today.

The family formerly farmed in under the name Mont St. John. See the timeline here.

They started growing wine grapes for home winemakers in 1922. By 1947 they were the 12th largest winery in California. They owned valuable Cabernet vineyards in Rutherford and Yountville, until these were sold in 1970. After the sale, Buck Bartolucci bought land in the Carneros, and now grows Pinot and Chardonnay.

Barlow Becomes Latest Napa Winery to Certify Vineyards Organic

In July Barlow Vineyards qualified for organic certification on its 36 acres of vines in Calistoga, becoming the 83rd Napa winery to have a certified, producing estate vineyard.

The family run winery and vineyard sells grapes to a variety of producers, including Frank Family, Treasury, Sterling, Bennett Lane and now, with organic certification, Heitz. They make about 1,500 cases under their own Barlow label.

The late Warren and Jeanne Smith family bought their property in 1993, moving lock, stock and barrel from southern California after visiting wine country for many years. 

Today their son, Barr Smith and wife Anne run the estate along with the third generation of Smiths.

Other wineries with organic vines in Calistoga include Dutch Henry, Eisele, Perliss, and Storybook.

Selling to Target and BevMo: Where Organic Wine Fits

Last month I wrote a piece for WineBusiness.com on the buyers for Target and BevMo at the bulk wine show in San Francisco and their programs for working with wineries to purchase wine. Now a video of the session has been released on YouTube. 

The buyers touched briefly on the subject of organics, in the Q and A, when I asked the buyers about the recent story (which ran the same day as their presentations and which I wrote) about Gallo introducing an organically grown Black Box wine. 

Jeff Feist, the former Category Lead for Spirits & More at BevMo! weighed in: 

"What if listen, if Gallo's doing it, they're doing it for a reason–because they see the trends. They have the data, much more data than we do...I tend to believe it because they're pretty good at what they do. So if Gallo's doing it, my guess is you'll see a lot of other companies testing that as well, because Gallo probably doesn't jump in without doing a whole lot of research. So I think that's a good trend."

Ryan Pandl, Senior Buyer, Adult Beverages and Beverages at Target said he thought that we might see more organic labeling on wines that were certified organic but weren't labeled. 

"I think you'll see people take credit for it. I know we have a lot of import wine right now that's organic, but we're not talking about it, and I think you'll just see, 'Oh, this was already organic. Why don't we talk about that and get credit from the guests for doing something that's important to them?'"

Organic News Roundup: Developments at Bedrock, Monte Rosso, Carol Shelton and Arborbook by Cooper Mountain

I've been on the road a lot for Slow Wine Guide USA 2023, as we are coming down to the wire for our 2023 guide deadline–copy to be completed by the end of August. (The 2023 book will be out in the winter in time for the annual five city Slow Wine Tour with Italian and U.S. wineries.) And as I visit wineries in the North Coast, I hear things. 

BEDROCK CERTIFYING

A trip to Bedrock's lovely tasting room in downtown Santa Rosa revealed that the illustrious vintner sourcing from so many historic vineyards is now going to get certified organic at its 100+ acre Bedrock estate in Sonoma Valley. 

Said Joel Peterson,"we've farmed organically for a long time, and we finally decided to get credit for it." 

The process of becoming certified takes three years and is still underway.

Vineyard manager Brenae Royal at Monte Rosso

MONTE ROSSO GOING ORGANIC

On a trip up to a winery neighboring Gallo's showpiece old vine Zinfandel vineyard, Monte Rosso, on Moon Mountain, I heard from a neighbor that Gallo was going organic on the estate. It wasn't clear yet if the plan included farming practices only or certification, too, but it's good news at any rate. 

CAROL SHELTON ADDS ORGANIC LABELING

In Santa Rosa, after many years of telling consumers her Wild Thing wines from the Cox vineyard were almost all organic, sourcing issues and labeling efforts have now resulted in Carol Shelton being able to label her Wild Things "Ingredients: Organic Grapes" on the back label. That means the grapes are 100 percent from certified organic vines. 

OREGON BIODYNAMIC EXPANDS

And in Oregon, Barbara Gross has been hard at work, transitioning Cooper Mountain Vineyards' latest acquisition, Arborbrook (now named "Arborbrook by Cooper Mountain Vineyards") off of chemical sprays under "sustainable" certifications and on the fast path to organic and biodynamic farming and certification. There are 15 acres of planted vines. Said Gross, "I can already see, in less than a year now, how the vines are getting better." 

She has also lovingly restored the walnut farm barn to a beautiful tasting room that reflects its agricultural roots. 

Bordeaux's Organic Side Growing - More Than 300 Wineries Pursuing Certification + An Eco-Certified Wine Explainer

VOICES magazine from Maze Row Merchants has now launched with two stories from yours truly. 

• Story #1 - Bordeaux's organic transition

This story covers the growth of organic producers, mostly in the lower end regions, who are hoping to benefit from the increased price premium for organically grown wines in France. They've want to catch the wave their southern neighbors in Languedoc have been enjoying with prices around 25% above conventionally grown wines at the lower ends of the market. 

 

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• Story #2 - An eco-wine explainer. What is the difference between organic, conventional and biodynamic? This article covers the basics. 

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Bonterra - B Corp. - Diversity? See Board of Directors (PHOTO)