I recently visited Mark Neal up at his Howell Mountain winery and vineyard to taste through the current releases. Neal showed his three Mediterrean origin whites and his perennially popular Cabernets.
One thing to know: he is starting to teach locally, holding a masterclass and dinner October 4th.
Where's what his website says:
Join us at Neal Vineyards this October for an intimate, full-day experience and dinner at the winery in the heart of Napa Valley with our founder, Mark Neal.
A second-generation wine grower, vintner, and one of the region’s leading voices in organic and regenerative agriculture. You will see and hear Mark really farms soil. You will taste amazing organic wines, some not available to the public. This master class is more than a look behind the scenes—it’s an invitation to walk the land, taste the legacy, and understand the philosophy that shapes every bottle we make.
Neal's vineyards are certified organic, regenerative organic and biodynamic.
Eight US wineries have banded together to offer an extra benefit to their wine club members–the ability to enjoy free or discounted wine tastings at any of the other wineries in their member collective. Four have organically grown estate vines.
Do not get overexcited, because the wineries are only one in each region, so you would have to do quite a bit of driving to capitalize on these offers, but they do set a precedent and are a benefit if you visit a lot of wine regions.
These are the members with organically grown wines:
California
• Frog's Leap (100% organic grapes)
• Ridge Vineyards (only the estate wines are organic)
• Tablas Creek (only the estate wines are organic)
Oregon
• Brooks Wine (20% organic/biodynamic - only the estate wines)
VARIETAL DIVERSITY
Promoters pointed out that the 8 wineries collectively have 43,000 wine club members and grow 43 varieties. Of course, Tablas Creek has a remarkably high number of them, since it grows many obscure Rhone varieties.
This weekend taste, taste, taste–and eat–in a convenient Sonoma location with lovely green gardens and enjoy wines from what are CLIMATE SMART grape varieties. Rhone varieties grow well in hot, dry places–a huge plus as the climate continues to warm.
From the organizers:
"Enjoy an afternoon wine tasting in the cabana garden at Cline Family Cellars in Sonoma, with 30 Rhone Rangers from throughout the USA!
Discover new favorites from Clairette Blanche, Picpoul Blanc, Cinsault, and Vaccarèse to the more well-known Rhone varietals Viognier, Grenache, and Syrah, PLUS white and red-Rhone blends."
Menu
Includes light bites from Delicious Dish and Live Music with Highway One
Herby Castelfranco Olive Tartlets
Pickled Watmaugh Strawberry
Iberico Ham Caprese Skewer
Lemon Fried Chicken with Corn & Tomato Salad
Charcuterie
Who's Organic at the Rhone Rangers Event This Sunday
Featured wineries come from Sonoma, Napa, El Dorado, Lodi, Paso Robles, Santa Barbara County, Ojai, Oregon, and Texas.
Among the 30 wineries participating in this Sunday's event, these seven have wines from organically grown grapes:
• Alta Collina
• Extradimensional Wine Co. Yeah!
• Lasseter Family Winery (100%)
• Ridge Vineyards
• Tablas Creek Vineyard
• Troon Vineyard (100%)
• Winery Sixteen 600 (100%)
Several also have organically grown wines in boxed formats – how eco can you get!
Discounts
Enter Promo Code SUMMER and save $15 on your wine tasting ticket.
For organic, biodynamic and regenerative wine grape veteran Mark Neal, white wines are what’s new.
Neal, a major organic expert who’s converted close to 1,000 acres in Napa to organic viticulture, has been making Sauvignon Blanc, like many in Napa, and added a Mediterranean grape–Vermentino–which originated in Sardinia but is now popular in the Languedoc-Rhone region.
His Cabernets, grown his Howell Mountain site and his family’s Rutherford site, have been one of Napa’s better kept secrets for years. But now his whites could achieve notoriety, too.
He’s doggedly refined a technique he started trying out in 1997 of stacking vines–growing two different grape varieties in the same row–a red on top and a white underneath–giving him a bigger sandbox to play in. These climate-resilient whites are the result.
Now he’s releasing the new fruits of his unique trellising system with two new whites.
If you‘ve visited southern Italy, you may have tried the medium bodied Fiano, a popular grape there where it’s often paired with fish.
If you’ve been to Santorini, the racy white, Assyrtiko, may have graced your table.
Now you can try Neal Family’s first vintages of each.
I’ll let his email fill you in on the details.
“Our 2024 Rutherford Dust Fiano has ancient roots in Italy’s Campania region and thrives in our cool, coastal-influenced Napa Valley microclimate. The 2023 vintage opens with honeysuckle, jasmine, white peach, and sandalwood aromas. On the palate, it’s medium-bodied and broad, with notes of ripe white peach, honeyed pear, lemon, and orange peel, a vibrant, complex white that shines solo or with seafood and poultry.
Harvested: 9/17/24
Fermentation: 100% barrel in French & European 500L puncheons
Maturation: 7 months, 20% new oak
Alcohol: 13.7%
Production: 264 cases
$42/bottle
Mark’s passion for Assyrtiko was sparked on a trip to Santorini in the summer of 1980. Years later, this vision took root in Napa Valley. Our 2024 Rutherford Dust Assyrtikobursts with lemon, mandarin, grapefruit, orange blossom, yellow peach, apricot, and honeydew. The palate is powerful yet refined, finishing with a distinct saline, wet stone minerality—a nod to its Greek origins.
It’s worth noting that Neal’s not alone in seeking out these Mediterranean varieties to grow. Long time organic growers and vintners at Napa Wine Co.’s Ghost Block are also planting some Assyrtiko.
Climate is not waiting, so these seem like smart moves.
There are a few Pinots and Chardonnays from top producers in the USA that I have not tasted, but so far, Porter Creek Vineyards is my top pick, year in and year out.
The wines, the people, the site, the farming – are all tops in my book. I shared this wine with a Pinot expert at a recent group tasting and his reaction was, "Top Burgundy."
So I am so excited to share the news with you that this family run (totally) winery in Healdsburg is, for the first time, offering vineyard and winery tours with proprietor Alex Davis himself. Trained in Burgundy under the famed Georges Roumier and yet as down home as can be, Alex is a true vigneron.
The estate, on a hillside on the perfect West Side Road location, looks and feels (and tastes) Burgundian. The farming and winemaking has been biodynamic for decades (and organic as well). I've bought cases and cases. In fact, there is more from Porter Creek in my cellar than anything else.
Here's what a recent email from the winery says:
"Join Alex for an epic 4-wheel drive truck tour of our steep hillside vineyards. Enjoy the spectacular views from the hilltop. View first hand all of the individual vineyards sites on the property and the winery where everything is made. Learn about our ecological farming practices, minimal intervention winemaking, what Alex integrates from his time in Burgundy and old Westside Road winemaking lore. Alex grew up on this property in the late 1970’s and 1980’s as “the boy next door” to all of the OG’s of the local Pinot Noir movement, such as Davis Bynum, Gary Farrell, Burt Williams, Ed Selyem, Joe & Tom Rochioli and of course his father, Porter Creek founder, George Davis.
This part of the experience should last about 45 minutes, and then included in the price is our "Grand Wine Tasting" at our tasting room, now with a much deeper understanding of how and where our wines are produced.
*Upon request the tour can been done on foot provided the weather is conducive and everyone is in the group is up for a brisk hike.
The tour can be between 2-5 guests, $125 per person or $100/person for our wine club members. If you would like to make a reservation, please click here to visit our website to reserve through Tock. It is also possible to email us at info@portercreekvineyards.com or call us at 707-433-6321 to request a reservation for a time not listed.
You can also book a wine tasting reservation without a tour, for our "Grand Wine Tasting", which includes one Chardonnay and 4 Pinot Noirs...all grown, made, bottled and labelled on our property. Of course, there is always a "surprise" bonus wine of our choice, for a total of 6 wines presented, for $50 per person.
A 2-bottle purchase per person waives the $50 "Grand Wine Tasting".
For your tasting experience, you are welcome to join us at our famous wine bar in the [rustic, picturesque] tasting room, or sit at one of our 20 outside tables, all offering beautiful views of our property. There is a $25, non-refundable, outside table-service fee if you choose our outdoor experience.
Thank you for taking the time to read through our newsletter.
If you haven't been to Porter Creek, you owe it to yourself to visit. If you have guests visiting this summer, this experience will be one they will remember. Nothing like the big corporate wineries who just want you to join their wine club. Porter Creek would be my favorite wine club to recommend (and I used to be a member until I filled up my cellar with a LOT of their wine. I think I still have about 10 cases down in the basement).
Very excited to see more NEW options in organically grown, artisanal boxed wines, especially from producers I know and love.
The gang at Winery Sixteen 600 has a new look and feel in their boxed wine, grown by Phil Coturri (he's Enterprise Vineyards). Three new wines - a white, a red and a rose.
The kind of summer house wines you need and love. $95 for the equivalent of 4 bottles. It's all Sonoma fruit (so I bet you some is from Rossi Ranch).
I haven't tasted them yet but am looking forward to it!
It wasn't about organics per se, but Napa Green's sustainability conference was a gang buster...filled with so many incredible experts it makes my head spin.
I got to share lunch with Jay Famiglietti, one of the world experts on groundwater monitoring via satellite, which he pioneered in California. He's now a professor at Arizona State, where is the Director of Science for the Arizona Water Innovation Initiative...a much needed institute in a drought stricken state.
Another day, I was lucky enough to snag a bit of time with Olga Barbosa, a global leader in biodiversity initiatives.
And there were so many friends and acquaintances to run into.
I won't go into all the content the conference delivered–that would be several books–but will point you to the videos on Napa Green's website when they are uploaded. Which hopefully will be sometime soon.
In the meantime, enjoy this article I wrote for WineBusiness.com that ran today. It's but a tiny smidgie of the conference, but it's a start.
There was an enthusiastic turnout for the Hella Chenin wine fest Saturday as hundreds gathered to frolic in the Hammerling Wines courtyard on Fifth Street in Berkeley, aka the "Natural Wine District," a province of what is sometimes called the People's Republic of Berkeley. The event was a sellout.
Naturally, natural wine has found a home here in Berkeley (with Donkey and Goat, Broc Cellars and more as anchor tenants) but so now has Chenin, and, at this event, the South African and California wineries who make it.
The event was sponsored in part by the South African importer Culture Wine Co (which may account for why, ahem, no Loire wines were featured). Culture is making the rounds, touring with its South African producers at other California locations (May 5, 6 and 7 in SF, Napa and SF respectively).
Chenin Blanc wines are also very affordable, as well as rare, so this may be two big factors in its widespread appeal within a cult following. Plus it makes excellent wines.
The only problem for me in covering this for this blog is that there are a. very few sources for U.S. winemakers to buy Chenin grapes (most of the vineyards to date have been in Clarksburg, where Delta moisture makes organic farming a challenge), and b. even fewer who are certified organic. In fact, I found only about five at this event.
The variety's rarity alone could account for the variety's je ne sais crois hipster savoir faire.
Farming on the uncertified grower sites ranges from ideal (Littorai in Sebastopol, Rorick Heritage, and Four Diamonds in Applegate Valley, Dashe Cellars' blocks in Clarksburg) to sustainable to dreadful. (Jurassic, a popular spot for Chenin, has great limestone, but industrial vineyard management using, yes, Roundup.)
ESTATES (2)
Two estate wineries grow and make Chenin–DuMOL's MacIntyre Vineyard in the Green Valley AVA and Chappellet in Napa's Pritchard Hill, which had some of the older Chenin vines in the state until it replanted in 2004. Formerly the Chappellet wine was only available to its wine club, but distribution has eased up a little bit these days, I've been told.
WINERIES BUYING CERTIFIED ORGANIC GRAPES (3)
Grape sellers include Massa Vineyard (vinified by Ian Brand, who has farmed it; its grapes are also purchased by Hammerling and Broc Cellars) and Chalone and Rodnick (grapes purchased by Hammerling) in Monterey County's Chalone AVA.
(Note: I personally do not just write about certified organically grown wines overall, but that is the criteria for this blog. At Slow Wine USA, I write about almost 200 wines each year, and not all are organic).
MASTERCLASS PANEL
The wine fest opened with an illustrious panel that included Chenin devotee and evangelist Tegan Passalaqua (of Sandlands),
The wine fest opened with an illustrious panel that included Chenin devotee and evangelist Tegan Passalaqua (of Sandlands), Bryan Bredell of Scions of Sinai (South Africa) and Alder Yarrow (of Vinography.)
Herewith a few excerpts from the panel conversation:
Alder:
"I think we've obviously seen a lot of negative news in the wine industry the last couple years, and personally, I'm quite sick of that. I think the wine industry is full of really amazing people and an amazing product that's completely irreplaceable. And I think today is about celebrating Chenin. It's about celebrating wine, and it's about bringing more people into this beautiful space."
About the name of Bredell's family winery, Scions of Sinai:
"The name...has nothing to do with the Middle East. There's a hill where his family has had a farm called Sinai Hill, lots of granite, lots of Chenin, hence the name...he is a seventh generation wine grower in South Africa."
"Through a twist of fate, his family lost all of their vineyards, had to sell them, but remarkably, he is now making wine under the family name in the original Family Wine Cellar from from so many generations ago, which is super cool, and wines are brilliant."
"I'm really excited that the grape seems to be going through a tiny little Renaissance here in California. At the moment, we still have very few acres. It's something like 3,780 acres [4265 according to Capstone) in California, down from 35,000 back in the heyday of Chenin Blanc, when it was going into all the generic white blends in California."
"But despite the acreage of Chenin not having changed much in the last 20 years, what has happened is, all of a sudden, all sorts of little projects, like many of the ones that you're gonna see out there in the courtyard today, have started really taking the grape seriously and making some truly exceptional wines."
"And of course, you're also gonna get to taste the South African examples, which are just fantastic. But Chenin, of course, is one of the most versatile grapes on the planet. Like perhaps only Riesling, it can make everything from a bone dry, deeply mineral wine to a skin contact orange wine to sparkling wine to absolutely incredible sweet wines that are the best dessert wines on the planet, and everything in between. There aren't hardly any other grapes in the world that can do that. And so Chenin has proved long over that it is one of the great noble grapes of the world."
On California's under the radar visibility for Chenin:
"I looked up this morning the entry for Chenin Blanc in the Oxford Companion of Wine, which I contribute to but sadly, did not have an opportunity to edit this particular entry, and the way it describes Chenin Blanc in California is quote, 'In contrast to South Africa and the Loire, California has very few champions of the variety, and most of it is used as usually anonymous base for everyday commercial blends of reasonably crisp white wine.'"
"So this is our mission, right? It is our mission as a group, as a community, as people who love Chenin and want to make sure that when the next edition of the Oxford Companion of Wine comes out, that that has been changed, and it says amazing things about the incredible boutique versions of the grape that are being made here in California."
Bredell told the story of how Chenin arrived in South Africa.
"370 years ago, there was a ship passing from Europe on its way to South Africa. It was a three month voyage...on the Atlantic Ocean, with a few cuttings of Chenin. These cuttings were kept with a little bit of soil...They arrived in July of 1655, so it was only planted in that August, as the first vines at the Cape, with Palomino and Semillon– the first three wine varieties."
"It was only about four years later that the first wine was made, at the Cape...It basically started with that, and it wasn't very good..."
Made as a durable sweet wine, it was used to help the sailors stop getting sick from bad water on long sea voyages.
Fast forward to California...where Tegan begins his story of Chenin.
"We don't know exactly when it first came to California–most likely the 1860s to the 80s. We do know that it was Napa Valley. The first variety labeled Chenin Blanc in America was in 1955...by the Mondavi family, Charles Krug, and it won the International State Fair in California, which was the big wine fair of the world."
"It was a big thing to win, and no one had ever really heard of it, but it came out and won the best white wine for the whole International Wine Competition, in Sacramento. So that really got everyone's attention."
"And then Charles Krug really had its payday with it. They made about 300,000 cases a year of Chenin in the 60s and 70s....Parallel that to South Africa, where they had a wine that was the number one selling wine...does anyone know that the number one selling wine in the world in the 60s was South African white wine?" [It was Chenin.]
"They were selling up to 3 million cases a year of the wine."
Tegan credited Philip Togni with keeping it in the ground in Napa.
"Philip Togni was the original winemaker at Chappellet. And the story I had heard when he arrived there, if anyone knows where he came from, it's part of the story, because he arrived there and (who ever he was working for) said, 'Oh, we've got to rip out all this Chenin block.'"
"And he goes, 'No, no.'...He had just left Chalone, and he's like, 'I know how to make it.' And they're like, 'Okay, we'll keep it.' ...So that was kind of this rebirth of a serious Chenin–the first kind of cult Chenin Blanc."
"The reality of the demand that Chenin Blanc had in the Napa Valley, in our parents lifetime–everyone wanted it.
"In the 70s, it was the most planted white grape in Napa Valley."
Nonetheless, the grape is rarely grown even in areas of the state where it could perform beautifully, the speakers said. Amador County is the source for one of Tegan's Chenins.
Tegan made a plea for more people to plant the variety and to hold on to the vines (so winemakers of the future could get grapes from old Chenin vines).
"If you're young, try to plan a vineyard...All of us in this room who make wine, we're takers, we're not givers. We've been able to be very successful on the backs of what the people from past generations have done. And we're not doing that for the further generations to come."
"Everyone says, well, it's really hard to find a vineyard. But do you think in 1919 that it was easy for people in Russian River to plant...when they worked at the quarry? No, it's always been hard, but that's the big issue.
"Why we don't have this is because people aren't doing the work that the future generations are going to be able to make great wines from.
"South Africa...had great work done, and then thank God for the distilling and brandy that saved all these [Chenin] vineyards for them for 50 years.
"We don't have that right now, so people in 50 years are gonna be like, 'where's all the old Chenin and vineyards that we get to make wine from? And it's like, 'Grandpa, why didn't you plant them?"
MASTERCLASS TASTING
1. Scions of Sinai
In the masterclass, Bredell presented his 2023 Granietsteen Chenin Blanc, a spectacular example, full of glorious acidity. (More info here). I agree with Randy when he writes: "I have to say that the one wine that impressed me the most was Bredell’s 2024 Scions of Sinai Granietsteen Vineyard Chenin Blanc: An absolute stunner of a wine, oozing with mineral, lime-like and honeyed qualities, a rapier-tart and high tension edginess offset by silken textures and the barest touch of green leafiness." It was a tough act to follow.
Description: From Sinai Hill, southern Stellenbosch. An old Chenin blanc single vineyard from 1978. Planted on South-East facing contours as dry-farmed bushvines rooted on weathered in-situ granite soils. Overlooking the shores of False Bay a mere 3.5km away.
2. Sandlands
This Amador County wine, from head trained vines planted in 1979, was subtler with more subdued acidity but with a beautiful grapefruit juice streak.
By the end of the day, Tegan had poured a lot of wine....(Photo from his instagram post)
AN ENTHUSIASTIC, VIBRANT WINE CULTURE
Chenin fervor abounded, expressed in the exuberant display of Chenin hats, abundance of expensive oysters ($38 a dozen), lamb sausage hot dogs, basil
A few years ago, one Chenin fan made an underground and unauthorized T-shirt homage to Chenin evangelist Tegan Passalaqua
CALIFORNIA'S CHENIN O. G.'s
KINDRED SPIRITS | ALL FROM MASSA
NEWER PLANTINGS (2016)
Jenna Davis, winemaker at DuMOL with the 2023 vintage
You may think you know and love Cathy Corison, defender of the True Terroir Holy Grail of Napa Cabernet, beloved by thousands. During the reign of the Big Reds (that Robert Parker promoted) her wines were actually unfashionable, she says in this conversant. (Hard to believe these days).
Like many, Corison farmed organically but it wasn't until her daughter Grace entered the business that there was bandwidth for them to fill out the paperwork. (Thank you to Grace.)
They also certified Napa Green in the vineyard and the winery.
I had not known until I heard this podcast, that Corison uses no outside workers in the vines (except at harvest)–much closer to the vigneron model, a super rarity in Napa.
They and vineyard workers also bike around Napa!
Here are a few little moments from the transcript, but don't stop here. Check out the full podcast.
Cathy:
“...when I got here, there were 30 wineries in June of 1975, 12 of which had been founded three years prior.
"Napa Valley was very poor. It the first half of the 20th century was very difficult for wine anywhere. In the US, it was even worse because of Prohibition, but there were still two world wars and a depression.”
“Was there still mixed agriculture in the mid-70s?
Way more than there is now. There were prune trees everywhere. There was a prune dryer in St. Alina that was, it may have not been active anymore, but it was still there.”
How did she come to embrace organic?
“My first big interaction with organic farming was with Ted Hall. I made his wine at Long Meadow Ranch for 10 years, and he was a really early adopter of certified organics. And so by the time we had our property, I knew, especially in our climate, there's no excuse not to be farming organically.
So it wasn't even a second thought when we, it was 1995 that we closed on the Cronos property, and it's been organic every second.”
Making 3,000 cases of wine a year...
“I think that we have stayed this small for so long and kept so focused because that has been what we can do and continue to do ourselves. If we were to get much bigger and experiment with a lot more things, I think we'd have to hire out more. And for us, that's not worth it.
We want to be the ones that can do everything ourselves. [Cathy] hasn't missed a single harvest pick day in her entire career... That is so unusual for a winemaker to be there for every single thing.
Grace:
"She [Cathy] built this label saying that a label has to stand for something. And ours stands for Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon.”
Cathy:
“We spent a lot of time out there managing the canopy to within an inch of its life...we're growing way better grapes than we were even ten years ago, because we've just gotten better at that.”
“For the last seven years, we do all our own work. Pruning all the way through canopy management....Our crew is completely hybrid...everyone who works in the cellar are the same people who prune. So it's really cool because people get a really holistic sense of what exactly they're doing out in the vineyard and how that affects the wine itself.
"We have four full-time year-round. And then we have an additional five to six that start with us at pruning. And they're with us till the end of harvest... it's a very European model...
"When I was at Davis 47 years ago, there were an enology department and a viticulture department, separate departments in separate buildings. And that's follows through to this very day. There's still a little bit of the them versus us thing, which is really too bad. There's only a fermentation in between one and the other."
Grgich Hill Estate president Violet Grgich accepting the award
The first round of Napa Green's Rise Green conference - six days of sustainability programs and world class speakers - kicked off last week with an amazing array of speakers and topics. Appropriately on May 1, May Day, the topic was soil health and biodiversity.
Grgich Hills is the poster child for practices that promote carbon cycling on all five of its estate vineyards. (It grows all of its own grapes). Its vineyard workers are paid $23 an hour plus benefits and yet it still manages to grow grapes and make certified organically grown wines for $4,000 less per acre than the Napa average.
As a role model, it would be hard to find a more eco-ecological vineyard and winery champion in the entire state.
Thus, it was a pleasure to see Violet Grgich receive this accolade from Napa Green at the Rise Green event last week.
When I drive by their Yountville vines, on Highway 29, I breathe a sigh of relief. So much green on the vineyard floor and under the vines. Carbon yoga! The soil is breathing in and breathing out.
It's a massive tasting with 50 top wineries in Napa showcasing current releases, library wines and exceptional snacks.
Sunday, May 18, 2025, 3:30 p.m. to 6:00 p.m.
Hosted in Martini Park at Louis M Martini Winery, Saint Helena
NOTE: I've added * for wineries with at least one wine from certified organic vines and ** if all of the wineries' wines are from certified organic grapes.
Moon Mountain District is an utterly unique part of Sonoma County and not the first that comes to mind when you say "Sonoma." It's special - part of the Mayacamas mountains.
And yet, while Cabernet here is king, Moon Mountain District has plantings of diverse grape varieties, thanks to its varied microclimates. Its Syrah, Grenache and other Rhones are outstanding. Its different exposures also grow–surprisingly–Chardonnay and Pinot Noir. Malbec and refined Zinfandels are also found here, thanks to its growers and vintners.
Many came here for mountain grown Cab, grown organically, who were attracted by working with pioneering organic vineyard manager Phil Coturri, who started his farming career on the historic Monte Rosso (the site of last year's extravanaganza event, featuring both current and ten year old wines, led by Antonio Galloni).
Headliners leading the masterclass include organic and biodynamic pioneer Rodrigo Soto, formerly of Quintessa, now of his own label, Far Mountain, and Brenna Quigley, mapmaker and geologist extraordinaire.
SUNDAY MORNING | SEATED MASTERCLASS | $400 per person*
*15% Early Bird Savings with code EARLYBIRD15 makes it $340 per person
It's starting to be a busy season as many wine events kick off this month and next.
Here's one I meant to give a headsup about earlier, but it slipped by me...until NOW.
I attended the first one of these which was held last year and it was exciting and engaging to have space to talk about things women do not always bring up in regular wine industry events. Last year I was lucky enough to write about the event for WineBusiness.com and you can read the article here.
The 3rd annual Natural Coast Wine Festival takes place this weekend from 12pm-5pm on Saturday, April 26th, 2025.
Superstars at the event include Amevive (Los Olives District AVA) and Lady of the Sunshine (SLO Coast AVA) as well as Paso Robles wineries Ambyth Estate, and Villa Creek and others.
(All four are certified organic or biodynamic and listed in Slow Wine USA 2025 guide).
The fest will be held at the new Satellite "The Factory" Event Space at 616 E Haley Street, Santa Barbara, CA 93103.
THE WINES
"All wine must be farmed organically as a minimum. Whether certified or not, vineyards must be farmed without synthetic pesticides. Certification from CCOF, Demeter Biodynamic, etc. welcome and appreciated. Just farming *sustainable* is not enough."
"All wines must be fermented natively - whether spontaneously or using a pied-de-cuve. Sparkling wines may be accepted when fermented with non-native yeast if noted in technical information."
"No sterile filtration, no fining"
"Absolutely no additives except for SO2 with a maximum total SO2 below 70 ppm, regardless of wine style."(Note: Raw Wine allows up to 80 ppm BTW.)
"No magic techno-wizard winemaking tricks. This includes reverse-osmosis, cryo-extraction, spinning cone filtration, etc."
"None of these rules are negotiable. Breaking of any rules will result in a 3-year minimum ban from presenting at Natural Coast Festival events... and v. bad vibes!"
Growers in Lodi are "in a world of hurt," industry leaders say, due to decreased wine demand, and experts have recommended that the region tear out 30,000 acres of vines. But there may be a light at the end of the tunnel: going organic.
That's according to Vino Farms vineyard director Mike Harder who spoke at an Agrology webinar with Vino Farms viticulturist Daniel Meyers. The webinar explored the impact of organic and regenerative practices with a deep data dive on measurable soil health and respiration variables using Agrology sensors.
IMHO, I'd say this is hands down one of the most valuable webinars of the year, so far.
For a 20 percent increase in farming costs, they said buyers, large and small, are clamoring for certified regenerative organic grapes and paying double or more above the going rate compared to conventional grapes.
Markets are conversations, and it all depends on who's buying.
Bonterra was a key player in boosting Vino Farms' interest in organic grape selling, as was Avivo, a newer brand (approaching 30,000 cases in 2025). Now other smaller wineries are asking for grapes certified Regenerative Organic, the team said.
See the video and the slides for additional details.
The journey for Vino Farms began before 2023. (See earlier story with Craig Ledbetter on WineBusiness.com on the company's earlier organic perspective). The giant company farms 17,000 acres of conventional or sustainable grapes across California and is a major player in the wine grape grower world.
IN SEARCH OF SOLVENCY IN A DOWN MARKET: PIVOT TO NEW CLIENTS
Sustainable certification did not boost demand or prices, the team reported. Now the company is pivoting in a new direction it had not anticipated, representatives reported.
Said Harder:
"We are motivated as a business to stay solvent. Obviously, it's a business that's been in play for over 50 years, and we had to adapt, right? If we're going to stay in business, we can't rely on the big players, the big wineries in the game, to keep us sustainable for the future. We had to look outside the box."
"I remember a point where Dan and I got an email from our one of our owners. He says, 'Hey, my phone's going off the hook. We need to set up a meeting and talk about how we're going to expand our operations in terms of organic and biodynamic?' Well, that was two years ago."
After Avivo founder, climate activist and vintner Ridgely Evers sought biodynamic (and later regenerative and organic) grapes, in 2023, the team was invited to Bonterra in Hopland for a Regenerative Organic Certification (ROC) workshop.
"So Dan and I toodle over there. And we sit, we listen to everything. They talk about the three pillars.
"And the first two pillars–soil health–I think we can handle that. That looks great. Shouldn't be a problem. The second pillar...animal welfare, I've got a sheepherder. We contract our sheepherder out. He's good."
"But the third pillar is the one that we all kind of, we looked at each other like, Whoa. That's a little invasive. There's some vulnerability there. I don't know that that would fly with us. Well, we took that back to ownership, and ownership batted it around for a couple of weeks, and we decided, 'let's make a run at it, right? So you expose yourself a little bit with that third pillar...Let's be honest. You've got to bring in HR, you've got to bring in your employees."
"And today, we continue to receive phone calls–not from the big players, but from small wineries–looking to source fruit that is regenerative certified. That's our motivation, guys."
CONSUMER DEMAND: NEWER WINE DRINKER SEGMENT IS PRO-ORGANIC
A recent Wine Market Council study on 1,800+ consumers in their 20s and 30's (representing a variety of ethnicities) found that 59 percent prefer organically grown wines. According to WMC president Liz Thach, roughly a third of all consumers are interested in eco-friendly wines.
As Harder put it,
"Everybody understands this is a market, right? And in my 30 years, I've never seen the market as dismal as it is today. If farms are going to sustain themselves for the next 50 years, we have to adapt. So that's our motivation–to continue forward with that. And it sounds shallow in a sense, right? But at the end of the day, we are a business, right? And out of this transition into regenerative, we are learning some things about ourselves as a company."
Charlie Dubbe, Agrology's head of partnerships, said consumer demand can change farming.
"Regenerative agriculture and regenerative viticulture cannot and will not scale to the level that we need it to really revitalize our food system, and our wine grape system, without that market mechanism..."
"I think that seeing that price difference is the market mechanism to allow you guys to not only explore regenerative, but now to get excited about it and continue to scale."
Harder said organic is providing a greater upside than sustainability.
"We were hoping that sustainability would provide us with that mechanism, and it didn't. We were hoping being certified sustainable would provide a little bump in price. I'll be honest–I don't know that I have seen a price increase in the last 15, 16 years from the big players in the Lodi region. So we are in a pocket that's very unique. We can grow tonnage to a certain degree, but we're not going to pump out 15-20 tons to the acre in Lodi. We can't do it. It's not feasible, right? So, at the price point that we are at, we have to find a niche market to continue, right?"
MEETING THE SOCIAL EQUITY CHALLENGE RESULTS IN A BETTER PRODUCT
Harder volunteered to become the first at the company to help achieve the social equity pillar which requires companies to pay vineyard workers a living wage (as calculated by an MIT calculator for each region in the US). He said closer relationships with workers have led to improvements for both workers and the company.
"[The workers] are actually out there doing the leaf pulling, the suckering etc., right? There's been a disconnect for a long time–well, probably forever–between the farm management companies and the farm labor contractor employees. What we're doing now is trying to bring that circle of communication closer with everybody, and this is going to evolve into a role where I get to go around and speak with all of the Vino Farms employees...without a doubt, there's a premium being paid."
"The smaller wineries are doubling what we would normally get from the big players. That allows us to come in on the labor side and do site specific tasks that these guys are asking for us to do. I can't really do that for the big players. It's just with the cost of labor and everything...it's just not feasible right at the end of the day. We're a business. We have to stay solvent. But definitely this move into the regenerative side, and the organic side, has given us that opportunity to get back in the fields and do these cultural practices that increase the quality, right? Absolutely."
BUSINESS BENEFITS
Increased wine quality and better water retention are two of the biggest benefits, he said.
"It's kind of hard to quantify the quality standards from a phenolic standpoint, but I think at this point, feedback from the winemakers has been outstanding."
"Lodi tends to struggle with acidity just because of the heat. I'm hopeful that these practices will help mitigate some of that. We're going to increase our water moisture holding capacity, we're going to move away from all these synthetics."
In a recent internal tasting at Donum (based in Sonoma's Carneros), Harder said the Agrology soil sensors backed up experts' sensory perceptions.
"We did a really interesting tasting where they had one block [a test block] where they've got basically no till, minimal till, and then full tillage...same varietal, same irrigation, everything."
"We got to taste the wines from those three parts of the block. There were some master sommeliers–people who really have quite sophisticated palates. It was so amazing the difference between the three. Everyone agreed that there was so much more life and layers of flavor and complexity in the wine where there was no till. And then what's great is we can pull up the Agrology data–we can show, 'Oh there's way more life, there's way more microbial activity in those blocks.' So it just makes sense, right?"
"It makes sense that in order to create wines with a lot of life and a lot of complexity, we need a lot of life and complexity in the soils, and we need soils that are highly functional. And then, of course, there's all the academic research that backs that up–that shows that when you have soils with more microbial life, you get a higher production of secondary plant metabolites, phenolics, tannins, which on the other side, help the vine be resilient and resistant to stress when there's these crazy ways, right? There's all these compounding, stacking benefits to regenerative."
QUALITY ORGANIC INPUTS MATTER
Vino Farms said it is now moving to supplement purchased organic compost with a new vermiculture program. It's also adding the use of compost tea as well as trialing new products it asked its vendor GrowWest to select for evaluation. Agrology sensors provide essential data, Harder said, to evaluate the impacts of various, cost-effective practices.
"We'll brew compost tea–250 gallons. We are hoping up to start hitting up to 500 to 600 acres with compost tea at once. We're pretty much finding that this can be affordable–affordable enough that we're going to be able to hit our ranches over and over with a compost tea, and then we'll use our Agrology sensors to see if we can pick up any boosts in carbon restoration when we do that."
Meyers said that planting hedgerows of native plants inbetween the vines, not just at the perimeters, is a cultural practice the company is moving towards.
"We're applying five tons an acre of compost every other year, and then that compost is blended with SOP, and that's really probably 80 percent of our nutritional requirements right there."
"And then going into spring, we have a ranch where we get bad leaf hoppers. When you're organic and regenerative, you can't just use a neonic to get rid of leaf hoppers like a regular vineyard would."
Vino Farms brings in a drone and spreads a combination of green lace wings and parasitic wasps [natural predators] to help control both the leafhoppers and vine mealy bugs (VMB).
Then they have a spray program that is sulfur based, combined with an organic fungicide. Biodynamic sprays (BD 501 and 500) supplement those practices throughout the season.
(Watch the video to hear more detailed explanations about this slide.)
Agrology data showed that the cover crops had a bigger impact than compost additions but that the biggest soil health improvement came from not using synthetic fertilizers and herbicide, Dubbe said.
"So this, the green line here, shows the conventional is receiving more compost. It is also receiving cover crops. But yet–that difference between not using synthetic fertilizers and not using herbicides–is creating a massive difference in the microbial biomass, carbon in the microbial activity and also in the carbon accumulation."
He continued, "compost, for example, gets burned off pretty quickly, right? I think the stat is like roughly half of it gets burned off in the first year, and then it's like a little bit less than a little bit less. It lasts like five years."
"But we know that the liquid carbon pathway, which is essentially getting carbon or energy into the soil, through plants...basically is absorbed out of the atmosphere, and then it is released into the soil as root exudates. That is the best way to get carbon into the soil, and that's the best way to build your biology."
"That's the best way to build soil organic matter that really stays for a long time...we can't really overstate the importance of cover crops and just having living plants on as much of our soil as as long as possible."
Another Agrology spokesperson added his observations on typical drivers for moving toward more regenerative practices.
"Typically, we hear two motivations right for going down this road. It's quality, and then it's climate buffering, dealing with heat, and dealing with water holding," he said.
ECONOMICALLY VIABLE?
Does all this pay off in the here and now? Harder said it does.
"[In Lodi] we're anywhere from $550 to $600, $700 tops, a ton. That's the reality for conventional in Lodi. And it's been that way for 15 years, as far as I can remember. We have not seen a price increase in Lodi in that long."
"We have smaller wineries and we have larger wineries that are sourcing fruit out of the organic and regenerative blocks. The larger wineries are a little bit softer on their pricing models. They're probably around $900 to $1,000 a ton. Whereas the smaller guys, the guys that are around the 2,000 case level...we're fetching anywhere from $1,500 to $1,800 a ton."
What about the cost side? Do the increased costs to farm under regenerative and organic certifications prove cost effective in today's market?
Said Harder, "It's more expensive on the cost–your IPM line items, your weed management, your weed abatement. Some items are a little bit higher, but not significantly. I'd say [farming costs are] probably 20 percent more."
"We're far more profitable in our organic and regenerative [compared to conventional or sustainable]...Absolutely." He said there was no price difference to the buyer between organic and regenerative organic at Vino Farms.
In order to simplify things, the grapes are farmed to meet a variety of certifications ranging from A Greener World (regenerative), ROC and organic. "We have a ranch that certified regenerative organic. We have Regenerative By A Greener World...CCOF certified...Lodi Rules, Bee Friendly and Demeter Biodynamic. We just farm in a regenerative way that essentially covers every single certification."
"We are still figuring out what regenerative certification is going to bring most value to us. We think Regenerative Organic (ROC) from ROA is the way to go."
"The hardest part about being ROC certified is when you do your social equity audit–that's a multi day audit," he added.
"But when it comes to certification, regenerative is a very quickly changing world, so we'll see."
Harder also said the quality of various practices is a big factor that is not often well explained.
"In my experience and opinions, it's really worth spending a little bit extra on the sources for that compost, right? Because you need so much less of it, if you're making compost teas. If you have really high quality stuff, with higher fungal counts, [it makes a difference]."
"People say 'Oh, you cover crop. But cover cropping is not [just] cover cropping. It's not cover cropping, right? Irrigation is not [just] irrigation. Compost teas–there's such a wide variety of the qualities and then the impacts that they can have, which again, brings us back to [the fact that] it's so important to measure the results and so important to be super observant."
TOP TIPS
Harder offered advice for anyone thinking of transitioning to organic and/or regenerative: don't assume it's just input substitution, and realize a conversion is going to take time.
"When you're farming organic regenerative, don't just try to find what you do conventionally and just find an organic version of that product and farm exactly the same. You're going to run into a lot of issues. You're going to learn that organic liquid fertilizers, especially when it comes to nitrogen, lack a lot of potency. You can get your potassium pretty easily organically, because the others are you're going to run into trouble. And then if you're also doing that, you're going to learn that treating leaf hoppers is very difficult.
"I would recommend just start doing compost. Start learning to replace conventional practices with organic ones, going one at a time. And if you do it right, and you do it correctly, you really shouldn't have much of a yield drop."
Dubbe concurred.
"There's this big kind of story out there that you're going to see a yield drop. I think that that is a myth. And the other piece you said that's really important is, like, don't try to do it all at once.That's what we hear from a lot of growers who are super experienced. Move slowly. Do just one block at a time, and then slowly transition, because there's such a learning curve to it. It is not just like an input substitution model. This is what doesn't work."
"Regenerative truly is like a different approach, and it's much more systemic, and I think in a lot of ways, it's a lot more interesting and a lot more fun, but there's definitely some challenges to it."
Although Vino Farms gets a small amount of funding from the healthy soils program, Harder said the organic blocks do not receive any grant money.
"Our organic stuff is profitable on its own," he said.
San Francisco, California – Join 20+ Sonoma Valley winegrowers and producers at Fort Mason's Gallery 308 on August 17th, 2025 for a first of its kind tasting experience focused exclusively on of progressive farming practices and wine tasting. With over 2,500 acres of Sonoma Valley vineyards now dedicated to organic, biodynamic, or regenerative practices, Sonoma stands at the forefront of progressive winegrowing on a global scale.
The first ever Sonoma Organic Regenerative Biodynamic Educational Tasting (aka S.O.R.B.E.T.) offers attendees the opportunity to taste with producers and learn more about the future-focused farming techniques that have become synonymous with the world-class wines of Sonoma Valley.
Wineries Featured:
I've added * for wineries with at least one wine from certified organic vines and ** if all of the wineries'wines are from certified organic grapes.
Some of these wineries buy grapes from Rossi Ranch (which is certified).
Abbots Passage*
Bedrock Wine Co.*
Bucklin Old Hill Ranch
Donum**
Fres.Co Wines
Guthrie Family Wines
Gundlach Bundschu*
Hamel Family Wines**
Hill of Tara
Korbin Kameron**
Kivelstadt
Laurel Glen*
Marioni Winery
Once and Future*
Pangloss Cellars
Repris Wines**
Stone Edge Farm**
Violet's Paradise Wines
Winery Sixteen 600**
Event Details
Date: August 17, 2025
Time: 1-4pm PT (12-1pm access for trade and media)
Location: Historic Fort Mason, Gallery 308, 2 Marina Blvd, San Francisco, CA
Katie Bundschu (Gundlach Bundschu and Abbots Passage), Sam Coturri (Winery 16600), and Morgan Twain-Peterson MW (Bedrock Wine Co)--years after their high school bus rides--have joined forces to create an event celebrating the pioneering spirit of progressive farming in Sonoma Valley. The trio wanted to shine a spotlight on the producers making mindful, future-focused farming decisions. And so, the inaugural S.O.R.B.E.T. was born.
"Sonoma Valley is one of the most historic wine regions in California with viticulture being a main driver of the community going back to the 1850s. On top of this, there is a long history of responsible, organic farming in the valley going back decades" says Morgan Twain-Peterson MW. "We are proud of this tradition and it has been great seeing the appellation become a leader when it comes to organic, biodynamic and regeneratively farmed vineyards."
Just posting the press release issued today recognizing green leaders...three out of six awards went to wineries with certified organic estates.
RISE Climate & Wine Symposium Announces RISE Leadership Award Winners
The RISE planning committee is pleased to announce the six winners of the 2025 Leadership Awards. Winners will give an empowering "TED Talk" at RISE.
Apr 10, 2025
The six-event RISE Climate & Wine Symposium is quickly approaching, with the launch event on Tuesday, April 29, and continuing to provide inspiration via 65 expert speakers through Thursday, May 8. One powerful element of each RISE event is the presentation of awards to regional wineries providing exceptional leadership on each of the Six Pillars of Sustainable Winegrowing Leadership. These community exemplars then have the opportunity to give their version of an empowering "TED Talk" at the event.
On April 29, Pine Ridge Vineyards will receive the award for leadership in Water Efficiency & Savings, spotlighting their transition to dry farming. On April 30, the team at Domaine Carneros will be recognized for their leadership in Energy Efficiency & Savings for their cutting edge microgrid and investments in renewable energy with a clear ROI. On May 1, Violet Grgich of Grgich Hills Estate will accept the award for Soil Health & Biodiversity leadership with their holistic approach to regenerative farming, and economic analysis showing the financial value of collaborating with nature.
"Domaine Carneros is thrilled to receive the RISE 2025 Energy Leadership Award, recognizing our recent advancements with our solar microgrid, an innovative approach to energy efficiency and resiliency," says Remi Cohen, CEO. "RISE is an essential gathering where industry leaders share breakthrough solutions to our most pressing challenges. With many on our team attending, we're eager to connect, collaborate, and continue advancing. Join us in this vital conversation shaping our industry's future."
On May 6, Doug Boeschen will join to receive the award for leadership in Social Justice, Diversity & Inclusion for Boeschen Vineyards' commitment to worker disaster insurance and hazard pay.
On May 7, Clif Family Winery will reveal the results of their packaging emissions inventory and be awarded for leadership in greening their Supply Chain & Waste Prevention.
During the final event of RISE on May 8, Opus One will be recognized with the leadership award for Climate Action & Regenerative Agriculture for their whole system approach including producing biochar, transitioning to no-till, empowering their team, replacing their water-intensive berm, investing in ecosystem restoration, and more.
Violet Grgich, President of Grgich Hills, shares, "As an honored recipient of the RISE award for Soil Health & Biodiversity leadership, I look forward to joining my fellow winegrowers at this year's symposium. RISE gives us an invaluable and not-to-be-missed opportunity to join together to affect positive change in light of the existential threat of climate change on our Valley and beyond. Together, we'll pioneer a brighter, better, and greener future."
RISE brings together industry leaders with carefully curated expert speakers you'll rarely or never get to connect with here in Napa, including Mark Arax, author of "The Dreamt Land", Dr. Jonathan Lundgren, leader of the 1000 Farms Initiative, and Jermaine Stone, creator and host of the Emmy-nominated Street Somm, using hip-hop to bring new audiences to wine.
Industry icon Cathy Corison, who together with her daughter Grace Corison Martin, will give a RISE keynote, observes, "Napa Valley is staged to be a leader worldwide as stewards of the land and our community--we must support our living web. RISE is a unique opportunity to come together to collaborate and share resources. On May 7th, we'll be discussing our multi-generational approach to leadership. Join us."
Now is the time to come together and take bold action--are you ready to be inspired? Don't miss these action- and impact-oriented conversations, and the chance to connect with leaders from across the globe. Visit www.risegreen.org to learn more.
Symposium Dates & Location: April 29, 30 & May 1 and May 6, 7 & 8 | Charles Krug Winery | Carriage House | 2800 Main St, St Helena, CA
Thank you to our Exclusive Event Sponsors: Napa Valley Vintners; MCE Clean Energy; Lallemand Plant Care
