Health Experts Recommend Organic and Biodynamic Wines Over Others

Fascinating. 

"Avalon added that conventional wine, particularly in the US, is “often high in alcohol, sugar, additives and pesticides,” which could impact the health elements.

Instead, Avalon cautioned that consumers should search for organic and biodynamic wines that “do not have these compounds”."

Read more here.

Festa Italia in Healdsburg Celebrates California Cool Kids' Growing Italian Side: It's All About Pleasure

 a16 owner Shelley Lindgren (Tansy) and Dan Petroski (Massican)

celebrate Italian varietals on Festa's VIP panel.

It was indeed quite a festive event Sunday in Healdsburg at Orsi winery as more than 30 wineries gathered for a grand tasting of Italian wine varieties made in California at the first Festa Italia. The good news is that the Italian varieties are making headway with champions like Idlewild and Comunita (Sam Bilbro), Giornata, Unti, and Massican (Dan Petroski/Gallo) as well as Preston Farm and Winery who are all adventurously planting or making rare varieties. 

Somm and wine raconteur extraordinaire Chris Sawyer moderated several panels
of vintners making Italian varieties in California

There's also the newly minted Italian table wine vintners like Italian wine icon Shelley Lindgren who launched her Tansy brand last year as part of the newer wave of Italian wine evangelists and wine lovers. (Shelley's new book Italian Wine is a must have accompaniment to the topic). 

Best of all, there were plenty of people on hand at the Festa who celebrated these unique producers and flavors. (Who says wine sales are falling? You wouldn't know it from the event attendance.)

One producer even makes an Amarone which was poured at the VIP panel. (Delicious.)

People also celebrated gelato from locally made Fiorello's, endless slivers of a16 pizza hot from the oven, Italian music and locally made (Journeyman) Italian style sausages.

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I have to say the Nocciola (hazelnut) was my favorite.

Alas, there weren't very many wineries who were either certified organic or practicing organic farming. (The beloved Giornata and Unti Vineyards fall into the latter category.) But more are on the way.

Comunita, an exciting new brand founded by a newly retired Google exec, with Sam Bilbro (Idelwild), plans to become certified at some point in the future. They've already grafted 46 Italian grape varieties in their 86 acre Russian River estate vineyard named Las Cimas Ranch. 

Wine grapes from Fox Hill Ranch (now owned by Broc Cellars), just got certified in December of 2023. Wines from that Yorkville Highlands go into some Idlewild vintages and to other producers. 

But since I committed this blog to just the certifieds, enjoy these two–DaVero and Preston. (You can read about the others in Slow Wine Guide.)

DaVero owner Ridgely Evers spoke about the value of matching Mediterranean
varieties to our Mediterranean climate.

DaVero is certified biodynamic and poured its Alto Basso ($90), a stunning red blend of Sangiovese (60%) and Barbera (40%) grown on its Dry Creek estate (around the corner from Orsi) just outside the town of Healdsburg. The producer makes only Italian varietals. It also produces incredible olive oil, which is what it originally launched before it got into wine.

Preston is certified organic and exploring new frontiers in Italian varieties, producing some tiny lots of Schioppettino (ask at the winery), as well as its regular offerings of Barbera ($42) (and Barbera Reserve which you really must try) and Nero d'Avola ($42).

Preston also makes a Barbera Reserve (only 50 cases)
which is available at the winery.

On the white front, Preston also now grows Ribolla Gialla and Tocai Friulano which it incorporates in a White Wine blend with Sauvignon Blanc. 

Of course, you can stop by the DaVero and Preston tasting rooms to see what you missed. 

But...you can catch some of the festive spirit here in the musical accompaniment that had everyone smiling. See it on Instagram here to hear the music!

More fun clips on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/festaitaliahbg/

Biggest Biodynamic Vineyard in U.S.–Oregon's King Estate–Gets Even Bigger, Growing to 535 acres

America's largest biodynamic grower/winery is adding 70 more acres

King Estate is already the great big granddaddy of biodynamic growers in the state of Oregon–a state that, thanks to its Burgundian role model cousins, has more than half of America’s biodynamic vines. Oregon’s biodynamic plantings are still growing as successful producers expand (King Estate, Cooper Mountain) and a few new vineyards are in the process of getting biodynamic certification.

King Estate is getting bigger with 2022 the purchase of the 70 acre Pfeiffer vineyard, 30 miles north of the southern Willamette Valley estate.

(Although Ehrenfried Pfeiffer was a key person in the biodynamic movement, the name of the vineyard is purely coincidental.)

A press release from the winery states:

“Pfeiffer was our first contracted vineyard in 1992. Planted in Bellpine and Dupee soils rich in silty clay and silt loam, the vineyard’s 28 acres of pinot gris and 42 acres of pinot noir sit on a southward-facing slope and are privileged to enjoy long sun exposure during the summer months. Pfeiffer is considered a warm site for Oregon. The vineyard was planted by the Pfeiffer family in the early 1980s.”

The winery is going through the three year process of becoming biodynamic certified, which means adding tons and tons and tons of biodynamic compost, among other things. They could be certified as soon as the 2025 harvest.

For more on the story visit our new substack newsletter on biodynamic vines and wines. 

Booker Expands Paso's Regenerative Organic Vine Acreage with Acquisition of Adjacent Caliza

Booker Vineyards, an organic beacon in the Paso region, announced on Instagram that it's...

"Excited to announce that we’ve expanded our vineyard estate into a contiguous 27 acre vineyard from our friends at @calizawinery. Like our original estate, this vineyard is predominantly planted to Rhône varieties, including Grenache, Syrah, Mourvèdre and Viognier."

“We know this site well, having shared a fenceline with it for so many years. We’re excited for that fence to come down and to bring this incredible vineyard into the Booker fold with the blessing from our friends at Caliza.”

The former Caliza vineyard has been farmed with organic methods for more than four years and @hilarysgraves now aims to raise the bar and achieve the same certifications for this expansion that Booker has already attained at our original estate: CCOF and Regenerative Organic Certified® (ROC™) 

CONGRATS. 

A First! Organically Grown U.S., Artisanal Bag in Box Wine!

I've written two major articles about bag in box wines that will be out soon and gave an industry presentation last week at the International Bulk Wine & Spirits Show on this format's bright trend signs. Eliminating 83 percent of carbon emissions makes this an obvious, ecofriendly, fun alternative to bottled wine, which, the more you learn about glass bottles, makes buying wine in bottles seem kind of crazy (unless it's a wine you want to age).

Europeans already drink a lot more boxed wine than we do, and they'd like you to drink theirs, too, but for now, I'd like to see this grow with U.S. producers, since we are the biggest wine market and need to grow our organic side.

I've gone through box after box of Ode to Lulu rosé this summer and last year from Bedrock, and as wonderful as it is, it's a blend of organic and non-organic fruit. Plus it's really hard to get as it sells out right away. 

While Tablas has produced its Patelin wines in a box, those are not from organic estate fruit, but from neighbors who planted the Tablas clones. So I was really happy and excited to see this new organic estate wine hit the market.

The convenience aspect is the #1 reason to buy these boxed wines. SOOOO easy to pour a little glass or half glass. (No more guilty pangs about wasting wine, too.)

More like this, please! 

Here's where to buy it: https://tablascreek.com/wines/2023_grenache_alouette_box

$115 each. Limit 3 boxes. 

Only 800 boxes were produced.

P.S. Look for an in-depth article on boxed wine coming in the October issue of Wine Business Monthly (the print magazine) and a shorter article online and in print at Grape and Wine in the August issue. 

Four Out of USA Today's 10 Top Winery Tours Feature Organic Vines

USA Today has published a list of the 10 Best Winery Tours, just in time for planning your next trip to wine country. While organic grapes are only maybe four percent of overall wine production in fine wine in the U.S., four of these wineries made the list.

1 Dr. Konstantin Frank Winery (Hammondsport, New York)

2 Davis Estates (Calistoga, California)

3 Eberle Winery (Paso Robles, California)

4 Robert Hall Winery (Paso Robles, California)

A Central Coast winery focused on regenerative wine grape growing (though it buys half of its grapes from local growers).

5 Ken Wright Cellars (Carlton, Oregon)

6 Inglenook (Rutherford, California)

One of the most historic wineries in Napa and a very upscale producer today, it was lovingly restored by Francis Ford Coppola (with a bit of personally expressive flair). Has a great museum. 100 percent estate grown.

7 Benziger Family Winery (Glen Ellen, California)

Created by a family and now owned by a corporation. Visitors can take a biodynamic estate tram tour through the vines. Seven percent of its wines (i.e. all of its estate wines) are from organic and biodynamic vines.                

8 Buena Vista Winery (Sonoma, California)

9 Cline Family Cellars (Sonoma, California) (practicing organic)

10 Neal Family Vineyards (Angwin, California)

One of the original OG's of organics in Napa, owner Mark Neal has been a leader in Napa for decades for organic wine grapes and makes affordably priced (for Napa) wines from two estates–one in Rutherford on the valley floor and one on Howell Mountain. 100 percent estate grown.

Slow Wine Guide USA

For more details on these and other eco-friendly wineries, consider buying the Slow Wine Guide here. It lists 400 wineries in the U.S. that farm responsibly and make great wines.