Organic Wines Uncorked: Cooper Mountain

Showing posts with label Cooper Mountain. Show all posts

Thursday, May 16, 2013

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.

Thursday, August 23, 2012

Pinot Lovers, Save the Date: Sept. 13

Oregon's Pinot Noir heartland is Willamette Valley, a far drive from the Bay Area. But come Sept. 13, you'll have a great opportunity to taste the excellent wines from this rainy Northwest region, famed for its Burgundian terroir and wines, when Willamette Wines lands in SF.

The event will be at the Golden Gate Club in the Presidio, Thursday night, from 6 to 9 pm.

A trade tasting will take place from 12-4 pm.

The organically grown wines that will be available to taste include:

Brooks (Organic/Biodynamic)
Cooper Mountain (Biodynamic)
Lemelson (Biodynamic)
Montinore (Biodynamic)
Sokol Blosser (Some Organic)

For more event details, c lick here.

Sunday, May 20, 2012

New! First Rose from Cooper Mountain

The inaugural release. Get it here.

Kudos to Cooper Mountain! A Wine & Spirits Top 100 Best Buy Wine!

Cooper Mountain's biodynamically grown Cooper Hill Pinot Noir ($15) is one of the Top 100 Value Wines of the year, says Wine & Spirits magazine.

(I already knew, since it's in my forthcoming wine app, but it's nice to spread the word.)

Wine & Spirits also gave impressive scores to two of Cooper Mountain Vineyards higher end Pinots with Mountain Terroir (list: $45) taking a 92 point rating and "Life" (sold out) garnering 90 points.

I am a big fan of Cooper Mountain and Cooper Hill. The latter brand name is its line of wines sold through distributors only, while the Cooper Mountain wine is available from the winery.

Congratulations, Cooper Mountain! Well done!

A Top 100 Value Wine of the Year

Cooper Mountain along with other Oregon wineries will be putting on a party all weekend Memorial Day weekend. More info available here.

You can probably pay for airfare for a winery weekend in October on the savings in tasting room fees (over Napa, for instance).

Online you can pick up a bottle of this outstanding Pinot Noir (Matt Kramer of Wine Spectator is also a fan) for $13-15. See here.

Stay in the know about all things Cooper Mountain (the only budget brand that's biodynamic all the way) by liking them on their Facebook page.

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Thursday, May 5, 2011

Five Great Summer Wines - Organically Grown, Under $20

My new book Drink Green: 101 Organically Grown Wines for $20 or Less will feature the best American wine values that are organically or biodynamically grown.

Here's a sneak peak at some of the world class wine listings:

1. Albarino, Verdad, biodynamic, $18
2. Tocai Friulano, Cooper Mountain, biodynamic, $14 (free shipping on $200+ orders)
3. Muscat Canelli, Barra, organic, $16
4. Vermentino, Tablas Creek, organic, $15 (older vintages available online)
5. Grenache Rose, Cowhorn, biodynamic, $19

To learn more about when the book comes out, sign up to receive blog postings via email. It's coming in May or June!

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Wines We Cover

We publish information about wines grown from certified organic or Biodynamic vineyards that are generally made with sulfites (which are usually added in small amounts to preserve the wine).

That includes these certification types:

ORGANIC WINE CERTIFICATIONS

• Made with Organic Grapes

Vineyards: certified organic

Vinification: less than 100 ppm of sulfites (i.e. a normal range)

Winery: certified organic facility

Labeling: front or back label

• Ingredients: Organic Grapes

Vineyards: certified organic

Vinification: up to 350 ppm of sulfites (same as for any non organic wine)

Labeling: back label only

BIODYNAMIC® CERTIFICATIONS

• Biodynamic Wine

Vineyards: certified biodynamic

Yeasts: native

Vinification: less than 100 ppm of sulfites; no additives of any kind

Winery: certified biodynamic facility

Labeling: front or back label; Demeter logo may appear

• Made with Biodynamic Grapes

Vineyards: certified biodynamic

Yeasts: native or organic

Vinification: less than 100 ppm of sulfites; limited number of additives permitted

Winery: certified biodynamic facility

Labeling: front or back

Note: unlike organically grown wines, for which there is a category called "Ingredients: Organic Grapes," wines sourced from biodynamic grapes may not make any biodynamic claim on the bottle label. Bottle labeling is reserved for Demeter certified wines only.

SULFITES IN CONTEXT

According to U.C. Davis, the average among all wines in the U.S. (as well as globally) is 80 ppm.

WHAT THE USDA CALLS ORGANIC WINES

Unlike any other nation, the U.S. oddly imposes a no sulfite restriction on wines in order for them to be called Organic Wine. These wines are also called NSA or NAS wines (which stands for "No Sulfites Added" or "No Added Sulfites.")

From the above description, one can see that there are in fact three types of organically grown wines:

1. Organic Wine (less than 15% of all organically grown wine)

2. Made with Organic Grapes

3. Ingredients: Organic Grapes

The vast majority of wines from organic grapes are labeled Made with Organic Grapes, Ingredients: Organic Grapes or are blended with nonorganic grapes and unlabeled.

Fine winemakers do not generally make wine without sulfites and a number of large wine retailers like BevMo do not sell wine in the category of "USDA Organic Wine."

With rare exceptions, this blog does not cover what the USDA calls "Organic Wine."

We are hopeful that the USDA will revise the categorization of organically grown wines and make NSA or NAS wines a category of their own.

This would put the U.S. in accord with the rest of the world, where "Organic Wine" means a wine from certified grapes made within limits on sulfites (generally under 100-150 ppm).

Organic Wines Uncorked

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