Make Some Memories: The Perfect Gift

Looking for the perfect gift for the wine lover in your family? Or for a business associate or client?

The gift of a trip to wine country with an organic expert may just be the perfect thing.

I'm offering gift certificates in various denominations to spread holiday cheer that can be redeemed in the new year - or over the holidays.

$$-$$$

Organically Napa Tour: Custom Tour

Take a trip to 3-5 wineries with organic vines in Napa. Guide will arrange transportation (depending on your budget/preferences) ranging from Uber trip to luxury vehicle. These are custom trips developed after a brief interview with you or your giftee to wineries that range from rustic to glamorous. To get a custom quote, please email winecountrygeographic at gmail dot com.

Organically Sonoma: Custom Tour

As above, but in Sonoma County. To get a custom quote, please email winecountrygeographic at gmail dot com.

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Trip Planning - do it yourself trips, make the most of your limited time in wine country (all regions)

Buying Advice - stock your cellar with the finest wines, from supermarket wines to fine wines

Custom Tastings - looking for a creative idea for an event? We'll create a wine tasting or mini-organic wine school - for you and your group. Options range from 90 minute gatherings to all day workshops.

See details here.

Don't Miss Dave McIntyre's Wonderful Piece about Philippe Bascaules

Bascaules ranks on my list as one of the top winemakers in Napa now. But I don't think I could write a better article than Dave McIntyre's Washington Post piece about the winemaker who will be splitting his time between Inglenook in Napa and Chateau Margaux in Bordeaux.

Read the piece here.

Circle of Poison (Or How Not To Do Globalization) - Meet the New EPA Chief in Waiting, Scott Pruitt

The new documentary Circle of Poison is a shocking film.

It was especially chilling to see the film the Hollywood Reporter calls "a straightforward indictment of longstanding ecological injustice," on the very day when Donald Trump announced that Scott Pruitt would be the new head of the EPA.

Many denounced the appointment on the grounds that Pruitt (attorney general in Oklahoma) is a sworn climate change denier who has sued the EPA five times (and lost) over regulations - rules that he will now be in charge of making.

While his main interest is likely to be rolling back rules that affect the fossil fuel industry, the major concern of Oklahoma's power elite, he will also be in charge of clean air standards, pollution levels, and pesticides. Congress has given the EPA a relatively free hand to determine these regulations, determining broad policy and letting the EPA - and its in house expert scientists - handle the details.

As Jay Michaelson (who formerly worked at Yale Law School's environmental law center) points out in his article about Pruitt in today's Daily Beast, Pruitt could, "change standards for pesticides, raising amounts of pesticides deemed acceptable for agriculture, food....de-list various chemicals from regulations under toxic substances control statutes" and more.

The New York Times editorial today, "An Enemy of the EPA to Head It," came out strongly against Pruitt, calling his nomination "an aggressively bad choice," and urging the Senate to "send his nomination to the dustbin."

Meanwhile, in a pointed comment, the New Yorker's satirical Horowitz Report ran a story saying Trump picked El Chapo (the famous Mexican drug lord) to run the DEA. That's Pruitt and the EPA.

But Pruitt and what will happen if he's overseeing pesticides is a story about the future. (At least he's from an oil producing state and not a major pesticide producing state).

Today the topic is the Circle of Poison, a story that has deep roots in the past, but somehow still persists.

What's shocking about this film is that it's not a new story.

The book the film is based on, Circle of Poison (you can read it online here), came out in 1980. In it, environmental reporters David Weir and Mark Schapiro documented how agrochemicals banned in the U.S. - for being too toxic - were approved for export to their world countries where they caused the innocent deaths of hundreds if not thousands of infants, children and adults. Food grown using these toxic chemicals was then imported into the U.S. where Americans purchased and ate them.

Fewer than 2 percent of all imported food is tested in the U.S., so critics have raised concerns about whether or not these chemicals were widely consumed in America.

But the bigger question remains - why were these toxic chemicals allowed to be manufactured and exported? And why are they still?

When he was in office, former president Jimmy Carter signed an executive order banning this practice, an order that was immediately reversed by the incoming Reagan administration.

Carter is in this documentary, recounting that order and his moral concerns about the continuation of this policy, one that is still practiced - 36 years after this was brought to light by muckrakers.



The film also takes viewers to India, Mexico and Argentina, showing us the victims of exposure to these chemicals. The sight of their suffering is unbelievable. You cannot understand how the U.S. is knowingly responsible for this - even under progressive, liberal administrations.



The companies who make these toxic chemicals sold in the developing world are Monsanto, Dow, Bayer, Syngenta, Du Pont and BASF (the same companies that make most of the pesticides used by the wine industry). The film mentions only endosulfan by name (not used in the U.S.), but it appears other toxics were sold as well.

The film's good news is that these third third world communities now recognize the dangers of toxic chemical farming and are reversing course, going back to organic farming.

Bhutan is also a shining example of a country that embraced organic farming nationwide. As one official in Bhutan, a mountainous kingdom, says, the country has so little agricultural land that it can't afford to lose production on any portion of it (that might be the result of chemical farming).

As I was leaving the theater, an elderly woman who volunteers at The Lark spoke to me. "I just can't believe this is still going on, " she said. "You'd think this would be a case they would take up in the World Court or something."

You can see the film online on Amazon Video, iTunes, Google Play and Vudu. Al Jazeera wrote a good synopsis of the movie which you can read here.

The filmmakers also participated in a panel at the Environmental Film Festival in DC, a video which has been posted on YouTube. You can see it here.

Must See Ag Films with Heart: "Seed: The Untold Story" and "Circle of Poison"

Yesterday, it was cold and rainy here in the Bay Area, a good day to go to the movies. But it was purely by chance that something popped up in my Facebook feed about a screening of Seed: The Untold Story at The Lark in Larkspur.

Also playing after the screening was another film of interest to eco-loving filmies - Circle of Poison (which I'll devote a second post to).

It was a fabulous, impromptu way to spend the afternoon.

Seed: The Untold Story is about the bleak situation of the loss of biodiversity - 94 percent of vegetable varieties are now gone. As Gary Paul Nabhan says, seeds are as endangered as polar bears right now. But this hopeful - and fun - film is full of inspiring native Americans, old hippies and young farmers, and a crazy ass pair of botanical explorer brothers, the Simcoxes, who travel far and wide to find sought after seeds in their effort to save species from extinction. As so many in the film embody, seed saving is an adventure that mere mortals - without college degrees or big USDA funding - can do as a gesture of hope and love.

Seed activist Vandana Shiva (who I greatly admire) makes an appearance, but for those who may cringe about watching another ponderous sermon from our Indian goddess of the seed saving movement, have no fear. Her humanity - and that of her amazing followers - makes for engaging cinema in this film.

Also featured are Jane Goodall, Tesuque Pueblo tribe members of New Mexico, Hawaiian natives fighting against Dow spraying experimental pesticides (unknown substances entirely) in their community, surfer activist Dustin Barca joining a march against Monsanto, and Indian women switching from chemical to organic farming.


















The film was directed by Taggart Siegel (he also made The Real Dirt on Farmer John in 2006) and Jon Betz; the two also made Queen of the Sun, a great film about honey and bees, in 2010. It played in theaters and was a hit on the festival circuit.

Here's the trailer:



Afterwards I looked up the reviews for Seed: The Untold Story. The Village Voice wrote, "A rare documentary from filmmakers who are not just capable, but also in love with their craft... a wonder."

The Hollywood Reporter said: "An eco-doc centered on the glories of diversity in the world's population of edible plants...contains just enough gourmet touches to draw foodies into the audience alongside the usual environmentalist crowd."

FUND A SCREENING - JAN. 4 IN BERKELEY - BY BUYING A TICKET NOW ($11)

It's not that easy to see the film, however (I guess Netflix finds it easier to pick up wine fraud films than compelling ecodocs) so I recommend that you vote with some presale ticket dollars and go to the film's web site to help fund a screening Jan. 4. at 7:30 pm at the California Theater (just off Shattuck Ave - and very close to BART). Tickets are being sold via the new niche doc film site Gathr to "tip" this screening up to the minimum needed (100 people minimum; it's currently in need of 30+ ticket sales to reach the tipping point). Tickets are $11. Might make a nice present for someone on your Christmas list.

Sour Grapes, the Rudy Kurniawan Wine Fraud Doc, Now on Netflix

In case you were wondering what to watch this week...here's the trailer for the new documentary on the Rudy Kurniawan wine fraud scandal.

Says Variety, "A real life comic mystery fir for Hercule Poirot."

The Guardian: "Highly entertaining uncorking of counterfeit wine scandal."

Alma Rosa Expanding Organic Program with 37 New Acres of Vines in Sta. Rita Hills

At Pinotfest
Nick De Luca, who became Alma Rosa's winemaker
in 2015; he also oversees the vineyards 

At the recent Pinotfest in downtown San Francisco - held at the charming Farallon room - I had a chance to meet the newest member of the Alma Rosa team, Nick De Luca, and learn about the latest developments at the Santa Barbara County's first Pinot Noir winery, started in 1974.

Alma Rosa has been through so many changes, but it seems like things are moving in a very positive and exciting direction - planting 37 new acres of vines on its El Jabali vineyard in the Sta. Rita Hills. 

The winery's founder - Richard Sanford (and his partner Michale Benedict) - transformed the region from a sleepy outpost to a world class wine appellation famous for Pinot Noir.

In turn, Sanford's career and his wineries have undergone several metamorphoses - business relationships that turned out badly, the loss of his original estate vineyards (Sanford and Benedict and La Encantada), and other financial calamities - to emerge once again, like a snake, with a new skin and a new life.

Throughout these changing times, Sanford and his Alma Rosa winery have always made superlative Pinot Noir wines. In fact, it is his winery's former tasting room that holds the ultimate trophy in Pinot Noir - it's the one featured in the epic, 2004, we-love-Pinot movie Sideways - marking yet another turning point in wine history.

Alma Rosa's fortunes have been transformed once again, starting with Robert Zurich purchasing it in 2013, keeping the Sanfords in place and the winery (which had filed for bankruptcy) afloat. Sanford sold off his La Encantada vineyard to the Grunau family, but held on to the El Jabali vineyard. Under Zurich's ownership, Alma Rosa opened a new tasting room in 2015 in Buellton.

Organic Vineyard Expansion

The winery is now expanding its remaining estate vineyard - El Jabali. The 6.5 acre vineyard, in the Sta. Rita Hills AVA was planted in 1983, to the Mt. Eden clone. It was certified organic in 2000.

In 2016, De Luca planted 37 new acres - 60% to the winery's most acclaimed varietal, Pinot Noir, and 30% to Chardonnay. The clones for Pinot will be more varied and will include 115, 667, 828 and 943.

The winery is also expanding to try new varietals that have done well in the Sta. Rita Hills. "We've planted some Rhones," De Luca told me, "adding Syrah and Grenache." The new Rhone plantings are head trained, in the traditional fashion, at 8 x 8 spacing and planted on a drought resistance rootstock. "We're hoping to dry farm them," De Luca said.

The new plantings will bring El Jabali up from 6.5 acres to 42 acres total.

Look for new vintages starting in 2019.

Napa County Board of Supervisors Approves Walt Ranch Vineyard Development

The Napa County Board of Supervisors today approved the controversial Walt Ranch development project. The Hall's project passed unanimously, despite vocal community protests.

The Sierra Club has filed an appeal, according to the story in the North Bay Business Journal, "objecting to what it described as plans to clearcut almost 300 acres, or 14,000 trees, for vineyard development, eliminating wild land habitat, wiping out carbon stores meant to absorb greenhouse gases and destabilize the soil."

According to the Napa Valley Register, Supervisor Diane Dillon supported the project, saying that "less than 50,000 acres of vineyards exist and the general plan foresaw another 10,000 acres of vineyards being planted. The entire county is 505,000 acres. This property is 2,300 acre and less than 10 percent would be converted to vineyards if the project is carried out to its entirety."

Dillon warned those opposed to the project that the realities of preserving agricultural land and giving it priority in the general plan is that residents actually have to live with new vineyard development.

Environmentalists don't see it that way. As someone close to the formation of Napa's Ag Preserve put it (which I quoted in an earlier post), "The current planning laws are really quite loose when it comes to wineries and granting variances. I think it is a situation where many will not realize it until it is a bit late."

For background on the story, see the earlier post published on this blog and read additional coverage about the project on James Conaway's blog here. Napa Valley Register's coverage is here.

Who's Organic on Wine Spectator's Top 100 List?

Wine Spectator released its Top 100 Wines of 2016 list this week and it's filled with quite a few surprises.

While the list in past years has focused on ultra expensive wines, this year's list includes many wines that range in price from $15-20.

A few U.S. wines from certified organic vines made the list, including:

20. Turley Zinfandel, Ueberroth Vineyard, 2013, $48
From a consummate producer of old vine Zin

47. Hall, Cabernet Sauvignon, 1873, 2014, $80
A Napa Cab from a single vineyard in St. Helena

68. Lemelson Vineyards, Pinot Noir, Thea's Selection, 2014, $30
A wonderful, affordable Oregon Pinot that includes grapes from all six of the estate's vineyards

73. Korbel, Organic Brut, NV, $14
A surprise to be sure - a mass produced sparkling wine sourced from Central Valley Colombard and Sangiovese, no less.

In addition, an honorary mention goes to a wine that is in transition to organically farmed vines:

7. Ridge Vineyards, Cabernet Sauvignon, Montebello, 2012, $175
One of America's greatest wines, every year

I apologize to any foreign, organic producers who I may have missed.

Wine Books for Holiday Gift Giving: The New Crop - and a Few Oldies But Goodies

There's never been a better time to be a wine book reader - this year's bumper crop of wine books brought some very fine works from authors old and new. But I'm also rounding out my list of books to consider gifting from some historic books I read this year.

FRANCE

The New Books

My favorite book of the year on France was French Wine: A History, which I consider to be a Must Have for any wine lover. It is composed of exceedingly good information - a well researched substantive book that is a very satisfying read. I dare you not to underline half of it (like I did). It's $35 and well worth every penny. I wrote about it glowingly earlier.

Although the highly illustrated But First Champagne, A Modern Guide to the World's Favorite Wine by David White came out this year, it's a mixed bag. The first half is a beginner's book, which repeats much that has already been said before in countless other books about Champagne. But the second half offers real value for the beginner and non-beginner alike with a chapter on the growers revolution and listings of dozens of the biggest producers and as well as the small, grower champagnes, who are listed by appellation. It includes an overview of the wineries and the individual wines from each producer.

The back cover promotional copy says the book provides details on organic, biodynamic and sustainable viticulture, but this is really limited to two pages and the information is not accurate. I have been in touch with the author about factual errors that hopefully will be corrected one day.

The definitive volume on the greener wines among Champagne's grower movement is Terroir Champagne by Caroline Henry, a Belgian living in Champagne. Subtitled "The Luxury of Sustainable, Organic and Biodynamic Cuvees," Henry's book is the best guide to grower champagnes that discusses organic and Biodynamic producers in Champagne, a region that is more widely known for aerial pesticide spraying than for being green, although a vanguard of a few producers is slowly changing that.

Terroir Champagne is available on her web site and can be purchased as either an ebook or a book.

Below is a map from the French TV documentary Cash Investigations showing the most heavily pesticide regions in France. The wine growing regions of the Loire, Bordeaux and - in the upper right - Champagne are the places where pesticide use is the most concentrated.

Another book that came out this year on Champagne is Alan Tardi's profile of a year at Charles Krug, Champagne, Uncorked. Again this is another misleading title as the book is not so much about Champagne the region, as it is about a year in the life at Charles Krug (which, forgivably, is mentioned in the subtitle of the book).

It flips back and forth between Krug today and days of yesteryear, and though it is well written, I would argue that it makes it sound, as Krug would like you to believe, that the wine has an unbroken lineage. If you have even the faintest knowledge about viticulture, you would know that the way vines are grown - including the fertilizers, the herbicides, fungicides, insecticides and other toxic chemicals - has of course changed enormously over the past few centuries. Failing to mention that is, to me, a grave omission, and one that made me suspicious that this book might be considered a bit too much of a commercial. However, many fans won't mind.

Still, it was interesting to go behind the scenes, the writing is very good, and it had my rapt attention as I read it while waiting at my mechanic's for a car repair.

The OBG Books

Two older books about French wine which I enjoyed this year are also worthy of your consideration for gifting. Well preserved copies of each are available online.

The Wines of the Rhone by John Livingston-Learmonth and Melvyn C. H. Master, published in 1978, is a gem. It harks back to a time of better wine writing as well.

Another treasure is Richard Olney's Romanee Conti, published in 1995, which goes down well after you've read French Wine: A History and gotten the broader picture. Olney writes so well; it's a pleasure to read pretty much anything he writes, including this lovely book. It's out of print but available online on Amazon from used book bookstores. Olney lived and cooked and drank in the south of France and was a mentor to wine merchant Kermit Lynch.

ITALY

The best new book of the year on Italy is not another broad view of the land of many varietals, but quite the opposite - a very focused and specialized book on the women and families behind some of Piemonte's greatest estates. Labor of Love: Wine Family Women of Piemonte by Suzanne Hoffman (self published, $55).

This gorgeous and very personal coffeetable book is the perfect way to learn more about the families who make Piemonte's most celebrated wines.

Though Barolo lovers will swoon over the details, it's also the perfect gift for someone who knows nothing about wine, but is interested in northern Italian wine and culture.

Many of these women live in gorgeous castles, in what many may imagine to be a fairytale life. However there are stories of the hard times as well as the good times. Warning: you may be tempted to buy a lot of Barolo and Barbaresco if you read this book - one way to get to know the subjects.

There's also a new book on Chianti - Chianti Classico - but I haven't read it yet.

CALIFORNIA

The best book of the year about California wines was also the one I felt the most conflicted about - Patrick Comiskey's American Rhone: How Maverick Winemakers Changed the Way Americans Drink (UC Press, $35). Comiskey is a fabulously talented writer, but the book is uneven and I had a constant love-hate relationship with it all the way through.

Comiskey's at his best chronicling the various players who began growing Rhone grapes in California in the 1960's counterculture and beyond, but he had a maddening bent for occasional hyperbole which keeps throwing you off the horse you were willing to ride. (He also uses the word "pantheon" excessively - where was his editor?) Even the title of the book suggests hyperbole - the Rhone Rangers didn't exactly "change the way Americans drink" - that's more than a bit of an overstatement. It did introduce the American wine industry to broader possibilities, but we still primarily drink Cabernet and Chardonnay. (Alas.)

However, Comsikey's work will stand as the essential book documenting the Rhone movement in America and it is one that should be widely read. For it is very good, entertaining writing in its best sections, and the story of the winemakers is a compelling one that will hold you in its thrall.

Those who don't yet know about California's fabulous Rhone wines will want to get acquainted with these wines for several reasons. One is that they offer far better value than the usual Napa or Paso Cab, generally costing $30-50 for the very best bottles (versus $75-100 for your average Napa Cab).

But the book's biggest shortcoming, in my humble opinion, is that these "maverick" winemakers were also those who have most fully embraced organic and Biodynamic viticulture and were among the first to do so. There's nary a mention of that in the entire book. I would say their "maverick" farming approach is definitely worth a mention, if not a whole chapter and it is what has contributed greatly to their best wines.

In addition, Lindquist of Qupé notably makes his estate wines at the Biodynamic Wine standard, a Demeter certified wine that is made without additives except for sulfites. These wines are among America's finest (so says Eric Asimov of the New York Times, not just me) and yet no one ever mentions that they are being vinified in such a pure manner. You are really tasting wines of terroir under this standard. No acid, no sugar, nothing added that would affect the flavor. My point is that it wasn't just the varietals that were pioneering - it was also the farming and the vinification that should have been part of the story. At the least - mentioned?

GREEN BOOKS

Biodynamic Wine by Monty Waldin (published by Infinite Ideas) is a worthy addition to the green wine book shelf, although it wasn't what I was expecting from the title. It should probably have been titled "A How To Guide for Biodynamic Wine Grape Growers"or at the very least "Biodynamic Vines."

It's an excellent compendium about the substances involved in Biodynamic viticulture - the preparations, Biodynamic compost, etc. - but it has very little to do with wine from a consumers' perspective in that no wines or producers are covered.

While Biodynamics is deeply dependent on the Biodynamic preparations and Biodynamic compost, many Biodynamic experts and growers that I know think much more holistically about their vines than the application of these substances. They often argue against presuming that the use of the preps and compost is what Biodynamics is about.

I would have liked to have seen more about what makes a property unique and how Biodynamic growers work with their terrain in different and compelling ways to make their wines as expressive as they can be.

While the preparations and compost are certainly part of that, the way land is managed is also an important concept - the use of animals, the biodiversity on the property, pest control, and more. I guess I'm looking for a different book than this one - one that profiles many different properties and the approach the growers take using all the tools at their disposal.  And I would hope that a book about Biodynamic viticulture would make the point, even for consumers, about the broader aspect of this approach. It would be better to talk more about regenerative agriculture.

It's also not fair, as Waldin does, to pigeonhole organic and Biodynamic growers as very distinctly separate groups. Waldin makes it sound like organic growers don't approach things from an overall ecological perspective, which is not the case. There is a wide spectrum of organic growers and an equally wide spectrum of Biodynamic growers; there is often a great deal of overlap between the two.

And while I admire the use of horses in the field, as depicted on the cover photo, it's not a defining aspect of Biodynamics and I know of no Biodynamic growers in the U.S. who use horses to plow their vineyards. It's a perpetuation of a romantic myth about Biodynamics. More accurate would be to show (rented) sheep running through vineyards in the spring since most American Biodynamic producers don't have the space or the money to keep animals. The best use electric or biodiesel powered vehicles for cultivating. Most use cultivators that run on fossil fuels - which doesn't make for a beautiful cover photo.

Another green wine book worth mentioning is Vin Bio, written in French, which is an overview of 1,500 French wine from organic or Biodynamic vines. Its authors, the Carité's have been writing this annual guide since 1984.

One can find it on the U.S. Amazon.com web site.

My favorite "green" book that came out this year is not about wine, but about soil - The Hidden Half of Nature: The Microbial Roots of Life and Health by David R. Montgomery and his wife Anne Biklé. Dan Barber described it as a "game changing guide", and I agree.  In my review of the book in January I called Montgomery a national treasure in the category of Explainer.

I had the pleasure of hearing the couple at the Soil Not Oil conference in Richmond this year and was even more fascinated by the emerging science on the micro biome and soil and the parallels with the human gut micro biome.

AUTOBIOGRAPHIES

There were three great autobiographies that made my recommended books list.

The first is Mike Grgich's autobiography, A Glass Full of Miracles. Though many have heard of Grgich for winning the Tasting of Paris in 1976 for his Chardonnay and have heard the broad outlines of his Croatian immigrant story (now enshrined in the Smithsonian), this book fills in all the fascinating details.

Another title I'm happy to recommend is Peter Sichel's autobiograpy, The Secrets of My Life: Vintner, Prisoner, Soldier, Spy, which I wrote about it earlier this year. It's a fascinating story of 20th century Europe for a well to do Jewish wine merchant family and Sichel, who fled to America and continued his wine career here. His most successful and well known venture was Blue Nun wine.

I have saved the best for last. My favorite autobiography by far is Richard Petersen's The Winemaker, now considered by some to be a masterpiece - and rightly so. In 2016, it won a Gourmand Award as the best wine book in the world - a high honor indeed.

Writes Edward Cointreau, who started the Gourmand Awards (a prestigious international wine media competition), "I have read The Winemaker many times. It should be required reading for winemakers, all who want to invest in wine, and wine writers." He ranks it among his top 5 wine books (out of more than 1,400 in his California library).

Petersen, who still makes wine - including his own from Wrotham Pinot Noir as well as a lovely, Biodynamically grown Cabernet for the Lake County Red Hills producer Hawk and Horse -
calls his book not an autobiography but a personal history of California's wine industry.

Petersen worked for Gallo in the Central Valley, he worked for Tchelistcheff at Beaulieu (and recounts the tragedy of the Heublein takeover), and he worked on the Central Coast. He writes candidly about working for six different wineries and many of the larger than life personalities who worked in the wine world. It's a must have for anyone on your Christmas list - wine lover or not.

You can read an excerpt from the book, the chapter on Gallo, on his web site here.

ONE MORE

There's one more option for gift giving and that's Hugh Johnson's compendium On Wine: Good Bits from 55 Years of Scribbling which is sure to be a delight.

Alas, it is now available only in the U.K., but you can order it online and have it shipped to you in the U.S. (I just ordered it on Amazon UK).

The U.S. edition, available for resale on Amazon.com now, will be released in May.

Who's Certified Organic on James Suckling's Top 100 Napa Red Wines of the Year?

It's that time of year when everyone is compiling their 100 Best Lists, and James Suckling's published his Top 100 Napa Reds of 2016, which is a list of wines mainly from the 2013 vintage.

Of the 100 wines listed, eight are from certified organic vines. All of the wines are Cabernets. Four come from valley floor locations in Napa's traditional Cab heartland - Rutherford and St. Helena.

Starred wines also made Suckling's Top 100 Wines of the Year (International) List as well.

Rutherford: Dana Estates, Inglenook, Staglin

St. Helena: Spottswoode

Calistoga: Eisele Vineyard

Coombsville: Rocca Family

Pritchard Hill: Chappellet

Yountville: Grgich Hills Estate

#7 *Spottswoode, Estate, $150 (#91 on the international list)

This enduring classic comes from a St. Helena matriarchy (who were also organic pioneers) which had another great vintage in 2013. Its estate Cab has made top 100 lists for decades. 

#13 *Dana Estates, Helms Vineyard, $475 (wine club mostly) (#20 on the international list)

Korean magnate Hi Sang Lee has spared no expense in constructing a winery in Napa Valley and buying three choice vineyards. The Helms vineyard is in Rutherford.

#21 Eisele Vineyard, Estate, $350 (wine club mostly)

Hallowed ground for Cab lovers since the 1960's, this vineyard is certified Biodynamic as well as organic. It's owned by Francois Pinault, one of France's wealthiest businessman; he also owns Chateau LaTour in Bordeaux. The vines and winemaking are overseen by the very capable Loire native Helene Mingot.

#24 Chappellet, Pritchard Hill, $179

An estate long known for its great Cabernet, this Napa pioneer has also been making renowned Cab since the 1960's.

#25 *Inglenook, Rubicon, $210 (#27 on the international list)

A benchmark winery with historical roots dating back to the 1880's, Inglenook's glory days are upon us with Bordeaux winemaker Philippe Bascaules at the helm.

#58 Grgich Hills Estate, Old Vine, $185 

The Grgich family has done everything possible to save these vines, planted in 1959 to the Inglenook clone (aka Niebaum Cabernet #29), and their love and their good farming shows. Ivo Jeramaz is a hero to Napa's organic community; he spoke at the Napa Organic Winegrowing Conference this year about his no till organic farming on this site, wowing attendees with a presentation and tasting in this very vineyard.

#62 Rocca Family, Collinetta Vineyard, $108

This small family label has eked out a spot on the top lists, at last. Their Coombsville vines yield a decidedly unique Cabernet that you owe it to yourself to try.

#86 Staglin Family, Estate, $250

A big, rich, righteous Cabernet, this is meant to age.

In addition, at least five other wines that made the top 100 are organically farmed but not certified.

Overall, about 7 percent of Napa's vines are certified organic, although the number has been declining over the last few years when some vineyards changed ownership.

Additionally on the international list, Soter Vineyards' Mineral Springs Ranch Pinot Noir, grown Biodynamically on a Demeter certified vineyard, ranked 25th.

Handley Cellars: Anderson Valley Original Expands Organic Program - Plus, The Return of Their Brut Rosé!

I stopped in at the Handley Cellars booth Friday at the PinotFest tasting near Union Square where I not only tasted the Estate Pinot Noir, but also got to meet Randy Schock, co-winemaker, at the Philo based Handley Cellars, the first - and for many years the only - vintner with a certified organic vineyard in the coastal inland Mendocino region famous for its Pinot.

Handley Cellars was also one of the first wineries in the region period (1982). And it was remarkable also for the fact that is was the very first woman-owned winery in the region - started by the pioneering Milla Handley, who is still the owner and winemaker there today.

Today Milla Handley's daughter Lulu McClellan is also involved in the winery - as national sales manager. The farm and homesteader movement spoke to her - she's active with the Greenhorns and now farms in rural Maine, which is her home base.

A benchmark Pinot Noir producer in Anderson Valley for more than 30 years, today Handley Cellars has 29 acres of certified organic vineyards. Randy Shock told me the the winery is expanding its organic program - and looking to the growers it buys grapes from to do the same.

"We see a market drive towards organic - it's a growing demographic and there's a limited supply. I think the industry has reached the stage where there are no more excuses," Schock said.

The winery certified its original 29 acres of certified vines - surrounding the tasting room and winery - in 2005, but is now converting its best vineyard, the RSM, a seven acre, steep, hillside site - a site that is located above the fogline.

"We've completed year two of the certification period for RSM," Schock said, "so we're on target to complete the three year certification process in 2017." The added acreage will increase the estate's organic vineyard holdings by 25 percent.

Schock said there were economic as well as agricultural and social benefits from converting the RSM vineyard. "In the RSM block, planted in 1999-2001, we're seeing yields almost double. It's keeping the older vines going. Compost and cover crops - we're having fun and embracing it. There are rewards for the land and the workers, too."

Schock also pointed out longevity benefits from being organic on the winery's original plantings - vineyards that last longer. "We've seen yields go up from five to ten percent in a single year, on our original 29 acres," said Schock. These vines were planted in 1986. "We've been able to delay replanting because they are farmed organically," he said. "It's about better soil management."

Handley Cellars poured its 1997 vintage Brut Rosé at PinotFest.
The winery will release new sparkling wines in 2017.

Handley is also taking the extra step of paying its growers a premium for organic grapes. "We're pushing all our growers to certify," Schock said. "I'm offering $100 a ton extra for organic."

In addition to increasing its production of organically grown wines, the winery is also beginning to bottle label its estate wines, using the "Ingredients: Organic Grapes" labeling on the back of the bottle - a step consumers will appreciate.

On occasion, Handley, located near the French-owned sparkling wine giant, Roederer Estate, has made sparkling wines (highly coveted, I might add), irregularly, over the years.

Schock said the winery is bringing back the tradition.

"We have a 2015 Blanc de Blanc - 400-500 cases - that we'll be releasing in May of 2017. And then a 2016 Brut Rosé which we'll be releasing in 2018."

Meanwhile at the event, the winery showcased its estate 1997 Brut Rose - a tantalizing taste of what is to come.

For now, fans can enjoy the estate Pinot Noir ($47) - which delivers a great deal of pleasure - right now.

Hall Wines Faces Local Protests Over Plan to Cut 14,000 Oak Trees to Raise More Napa Wine Grapes

Local citizens in Napa are protesting against proposed vineyard development by the Halls, who have two wineries in Napa Valley.

The Halls began their proposed Walt Ranch, named for Kathryn Hall's maiden name Walt, after purchasing the 2,300 acre property in 2005. The project seeks to create new vineyards on what are several hundred acres of oak forests. The plan, initially scoped at cutting down 30,000 oak trees, has been scaled back to cut down 14,000 oaks in a pristine undeveloped watershed area.

While the project has passed planning dept.  review and is in accord with many county guidelines, it hasn't met with local residents' approval.

While earlier waves of land use protection - namely Napa's famed Agricultural Preserve - fought to preserve agricultural lands - confining commercial and residential real estate development to limited areas - they did not adequately address watershed protection, in the eyes of many. Hence, the protests.

The most organized group that has formed to oppose the project is the DENW - Defenders of the East Napa Watershed. In addition to their vocal opposition to the project, their web site provides full documentation and background on the project from official sources. (I highly recommend reading it if you want to know more about this story.)

Virginia based writer James Conaway, who has long chronicled Napa's environmental and agricultural protectionist history (see his two books Napa: An American Eden and its sequel), is back in the valley to write the third book in his trilogy about Napa. He's current blogging about the Walt Ranch proposal. He's found a source - who he calls Deep Root - who is a geomorphologist who's been a consultant on many vineyard development projects.

The Halls made their fortune in Texas real estate and to hear Deep Root talk about it, their eyes aren't just on turning the land into vineyards. "Walt Ranch is the biggest, most lucrative real estate pivot this county's seen since the change in the definition of agriculture and of great symbolic value," Deep Root says, as Conaway writes this week. Deep Root think the Halls will turn the property into 35 ranchettes someday. (Most vineyard projects don't call for 35 subdivided parcels - which you can see pictured below in the Walt Ranch proposal posted on the DENW site.)

Deep Root is critical of the system - which doesn't protect nature, in his view. Here's an excerpt of Deep Root's comments from Conaway's blog:

For all those opposing the development, land preservation and watershed protection are the main concerns.

I emailed a family member of one of the Ag Preserve's founders last month (whose comments were off the record) who is concerned about the development. "It's always grapes before houses," the family member said, "but the scope of this project and others need to be better evaluated. The current planning laws are really quite loose, especially when comes to wineries and granting variances. I think it is a situation where many will not realize until it is a bit late."

In the meantime, some residents have recognized the threat to the watershed the proposed project presents and made their voices heard this week to Napa's elected officials. (To read coverage of the latest protect from the Napa Valley Register, click here.) Stay tuned for the results.

Read the rest of Deep Root's story on Conaway's blog here. 

Note: the Halls are also involved in a proposal - in partnership with the Koch Brothers - to build a luxury hotel in Calistoga. For more info, see Conaway's blog.

The Halls - Craig and Kathryn - already own Senza Hotel in Napa.

In addition, another Hall - Ted Hall, owner of Long Meadow Ranch Winery and Farmstead restaurant in St. Helena - is considering building an 80 unit hotel in downtown St. Helena - a project that has been in an exploratory phase.

Update Nov. 22: The Napa County Board of Supervisors heard from the project's proponents Nov. 21. See Napa Valley Register coverage here.

Glyphosate (Roundup) Update: Consumer Testing Reveals High Levels (Unsafe?) of Glyphosate in Cheerios (+ More)

While you may be overwhelmed (as I have been) by news from the election this week, there's important news on the glyphosate front this month from three different angles: consumer testing of glyphosate in commonly sold foods, a farm worker study on pesticides and the oral micro biome, and the EPA's recent suspension of glyphosate testing. In today's post, I'll cover the first in that list. 

CONSUMER TESTING FIND GLYPHOSATE IN COMMON FOODS FROM NATIONAL BRANDS

A Huffington Post article by Carey Gillam published today showcases the new study from the Detox Project and Food Democracy Now, released this week, that shows how much glyphosate is contained in popular foods like Cheerios, Kellogg's Corn Flakes, Ritz Crackers and - yes - John Stewart's favorite target, the orange-colored, corn-based crispy snacks known as Doritos. You can find news coverage on Sustainable Pulse.

For the full report (which I highly recommend reading and which is the source for the graphics in this post), click here.

You may recall that Moms Across America released preliminary glyphosate test results on 10 bottles of wine earlier this year, showing they contained from 1 to 28 ppb of glyphosate. 

The levels in the current food products study are, overall, much, much higher, ranging from 8 ppb to a high of 1,124 ppb. (It's worth noting that the San Francisco lab the food study used is valid to 5 ppb; the St. Louis lab the wine study used goes down to 1 ppb in sensitivity and is the lab that USDA glyphosate researcher Robert Kremer routinely used over his 17 years of glyphosate research.)

The reason that the food product levels of glyphosate are so much higher is twofold. One is that wheat, oats, and corn fields are now often routinely sprayed with glyphosate (in Roundup) at harvest time as a desiccant, in order to dry out crops. The second is that GMO crops are pummeled with glyphosate - that's the reason they were created - to withstand use of massive amounts of herbicides.

If you want to totally geek out on the best studies to date on dosages and impacts, here's the chart for you. It lists the various studies on allowable daily intake (ADI) from various peer-reviewed research studies.

But to put it in simpler terms, here's what the EU thinks is safe (today) and here's what the US (via the EPA) has set as allowable levels. 

The latest new science calls for a much lower intake than either of these current levels. Scientists who have conducted the latest animal studies are now calling for an intake level that is 12 times lower than the levels in Europe. That is 70 times lower than the current US level.

What this means for wine producers: the public is becoming more glyphosate-aware. Future food studies are going to be released, testing a much broader array of products as citizen activists pick up the ball that the EPA has dropped on glyphosate testing. The Detox Project, with help from UCSF scientists, is currently documenting the levels of glyphosate found in people's urine. 

With a subject as personal as this - what is ingested directly into individuals' intestines - this issue is not going to go away quickly and quietly. The wine industry needs to wake up and address its own glyphosate issues. Consumers may soon find themselves seeking glyphosate free food and wine, and wondering who to go to for the healthiest choices.

Note: For those who are wondering, organic producers do not use glyphosate. 

Organic and Biodynamic in Champagne? Reason for Hope

Don't miss Caroline Henry's very fine piece in WineSearcher.com on the 2016 harvest in Champagne and growers' increasing (albeit small) interest in using organic and Biodynamic farming techniques.

Champagne has been a region where pesticides are more heavily used than in many others in France. (Bordeaux uses more, according to Henry). If you saw the film A Year in Champagne, you may recall the scene where a helicopter is spraying pesticides on camera.

Henry's story highlights:

• Legislation is being considered in France that could restrict pesticide use in vineyards 25% by 2020.  (What a contrast to the scene in California, eh?)

• Organic and Biodynamic vineyards fared well in comparison to their chemically farmed counterparts in the 2016 vintage in Champagne

One interesting note for us here in California: Roederer, one of Champagne's major producers, with 568 acres in the region, has 20+ acres of Biodynamic vines it is piloting in Champagne.

Here in California, the company has three estate wineries in Mendocino's Anderson Valley (Domaine Anderson, Roederer Estate and Scharffenberger Cellars), and a similarly small percentage of its vines here are organic or Biodynamic.

Domaine Anderson, its newest winery in Anderson Valley, has just recently certified 17 acres of Biodynamic vines. It also has two smaller certified organic vineyards as well. (Alas, no sparkling wines - just Pinot Noir - is made from Domaine Anderson).

I hadn't heard anything from the Roederer folks I spoke with here about their Biodynamic vines in Champagne, so that was interesting to discover that they have 20+ acres there.

Of course, we do have a limited number of sparkling wine options here in the U.S. for organically or Biodynamically grown wine - McFadden's Brut, Terra Savia, and Alma Rosa are some. Selected vintages of some Domaine Carneros sparkling wines are also organically grown (and bottle labeled with certification). Others include Sea Smoke Cellars and Johan Vineyard's Pet Nat (Biodynamic).

Maybe one day, sigh, Roederer's Mendocino sparkling wines from Mendocino will be on that list.

How Did We Ever Live Without This Book? French Wine: A History - Including 10 Things to Know About French Wine

For years we've had books about French wines, but never a book like this before. Rod Phillips' comprehensive book, French Wine: A History, is an absolute tour de force, sure to be an instant classic. I read an advance review copy, but the book just went on sale today.

(For those of us who follow organically grown wines, this book could, loosely, be said to be a history of organic wine, since all wine was "organic" until the last 100-150 years.)

To hear many modern French wine books talk about it, French wines consist of wines from Bordeaux,  Champagne, and Burgundy, along with the Rhone. These first three - historically the biggest producers of fine wines - account, as Phillips writes - for just one sixth of French vineyards and a small percentage of France's output. Instead, Phillips writes, we should pay broader attention to the rest of France:

"...most French wine produced today comes from Mediterranean France, especially from the broad Languedoc region that is the cradle of French viticulture."

Sound familiar? Just as Napa and Sonoma get so much press, it's places like California's Central Valley that do all the heavy lifting.

Uniquely, Phillips also puts Algeria in context, a region that's often neglected or disowned in most French wine books. But many, many French wines came from Algeria either as blends or a wholly sourced Algerian wines. The region was especially important during the period when phylloxera killed off most of the European country's vines. Phillips gives us the precise value of the African colony's contribution when he writes,

"...shipments of wine from Algeria to metropolitan France represented three times the combined wine exports of France, Italy and Spain in the 1930s and easily exceeded them until the 1960's." 

How's that for modifying existing views on French terroir during that period?

Author Rod Phillips is a historian, by profession, and a wine expert who is a wine columnist for the daily paper in Ottawa. His book covers wine grape growing and winemaking in France from 500 BCE when the Romans appear to have been making their first wines around Massalia (today, Marseilles).

But aside from that, there are juicy bits about, of course, the English and the French, Champagne and the court, the neglected Rhone region, and the recent invention of historical traditions in both Bordeaux and Burgundy by vintners anxious to create lines of historical legitimacy where there were none.

But the book's comprehensiveness is also part of its great value - Phillips gives us great chapters on the earliest years with details not revealed elsewhere (at least in English translations). The medieval period is as fascinating as any of the later eras. And the realization that the French revolution was responsible for the breakup of the great church-owned Burgundian estates that then passed into private hands. If only we had bought then...

I found myself underlining, underlining and underlining - there were so many Big Facts and Interesting Revelations in this book. One could easily write a lengthy review, but I will restrain myself and simply share:

10 Things About French Wine I Learned from Reading French Wine: A History

1. The First French Imports to Italy May Have Been in 79 CE

When Pompeii, a major wine producing area, was buried by the volcanic explosion of 79 CE, the Romans imported Gallic/French wines to Italy to make up for the shortage of Italian wines.

2. Vines Planted in Rows: A First in 1630

Before 1630, vines were planted as field blends and not in rows. Row planting did not really take off until phylloxera forced the French to replant, which was in the late 1800's.

3. Sauternes - A Dutch Treat

The Dutch ran things in Bordeaux during much of the 1600's, and it was on their watch that Sauternes were produced, making the sweet wine popular and famous.

They also made Cahors and its Malbecs prominent and sought after wines.

4. King Louis XV Forbade Vineyard Planting

Concerned that the craze for planting vineyards - which made a nice profit - might take too much land out of production that was needed for growing essentials like grain, in 1731 Louis XV issued an edict forbidding the planting of new vineyards without his consent. (The edicts were widely ignored).

5. In the 18th Century, Burgundy's Big Market Was Parisians not the British

In the late 1700's Bordeaux and Champagne were mostly exported to English, who paid twice the price for Bordeaux wines than the French did, while the wines of Burgundy were embraced by Parisian wine drinkers.

The finest wines of Burgundy - from Chambertin, Clos de Vougeot and more - were priced at just 50 percent above those of ordinary wines.

6. The French Revolution Revolutionized Vineyard Ownership

During the revolution, the state confiscated land owned by the churches, enabling citizens with money to buy land to snap up many of Burgundy's finest vineyards, which had been owned by abbeys. The largest was the 5,000 acres vines owned by the Abbey of Citeaux which were sold to wealthy buyers.

La Romanee, now of DRC fame, was among those auctioned at 1794. Wine from it was said to "restore life to the dying."

It was from this time onward that Burgundy's vineyards began being subdivided into smaller and smaller fragments.

The revolution also liberated wine presses, enabling anyone to make wine. Until that time, using the seigneur's press would cost you 5 to 30 percent of the wine you produced. And you couldn't use it during peak harvest times if the seigneur needed it to crush his own grapes.

7. Pas De Punchdowns

Winemakers in the 1800s were advised not to punchdown wines, according to a manual by Cade-de-Vaux.

Many winemakers also appear to have died from carbon dioxide poisoning during fermentation, judging from his warnings on carbon gas.

8. The Comet Vintage was Superb

In 1870 Donati's comet streaked across the sky; vintners proclaimed the wines from this harvest as notably superior.

9. The Railroads Revitalized Languedoc

By the 1850's, when railroads could transport wine to Paris in tanker cars, Languedoc's plantings and output rose exponentially, to 1.1 million acres producing, with higher yielding varietals, 400 million cases.

10. The American Import - Powdery Mildew - Debuted

There was no powdery mildew in French vineyards until the 1840s when it came to France from America.

And one last bit, which I cannot resist: in 1905, when there was widespread wine fraud with pernicious additives or wine made from raisins were widely distributed, vintners fought back with the slogan: "Long live natural wine [i.e. real wine]! Down with the poisoners!" - a sentiment that should still ring true today.

Quibbles

As excellent as it is, I do have a few issues with this book,. The subject of viticulture is only sporadically and tantalizingly touched upon.

It's unclear to me from reading it when copper started to be used, as well as sulfur, and when insecticides came into play. What kind of tillage was being done? When did tractors start to be used?

There is a brief, all too brief, mention of organic and Biodynamic farming starting in the 1970's, but not much detail about why and what the results and scope of it was.

Perhaps we can beg the author to write another book that will address this equally worthy side - the viticultural practices (and history of pesticides, insecticides, herbicides and fungicides) - of French wine history.

Final Note

This is such a grand and wonderful book that I would hope that someday it could be republished as a coffeetable book with lots of color illustrations and photos.

RAW WINE Meets Slow Food: Geeking Out on Heritage Winemaking Gear with Via Vecchia

Via Vecchia's housed in Columbus' old Brewery District 

There's a place where people like to geek out on heritage vines. That's California.

Then there's a place where a guy likes to geek out on actually using heritage winemaking equipment. That's Columbus, Ohio. Say what? you say. Yes, Columbus, Ohio.

English by birth and Tuscan by heritage, winemaker Paolo Rosi uses his treasured, century old winemaking equipment to make an organically grown wine at his Via Vecchia winery. (Aptly, "Via Vecchia" means the "old way" in Italian.)

When Rosi moved to the U.S. from London, he brought with him his family's winemaking equipment:

• Three 100-140 year old demijohns in their hand beaten, riveted metal carriers
• A hand corker
• A device used to pull olive oil off the top of the wine in the neck of the demijohns

His old time methods caught the attention of the Piedmont-based Slow Food leaders. He was invited to bring his wine to Italy.

Although he wasn't raised as an Italian American, he might be considered one now, since he follows another time-honored Italian American tradition - buying his wine grapes from Lodi, and having them shipped across the country to his winery.

His Respiro Cabernet comes from the Mettler family vineyard in Lodi.

He'll be pouring the Respiro at RAW WINE, the natural wine festival in Brooklyn, in Nov. Now you can see (from these pix) where it comes from.

Cin, cin.

What a Native Yeast Ferment Looks Like

Everyday millions of wine are made with commercial yeasts designed to bring out certain flavors in wine. Except for those who use native yeasts - the yeasts found on the grapes. For many wine purists, using native yeasts is the only way to go.

Here's Pinot fermenting away at Brooks winery in Oregon's Eola-Amity Hills wine country outside Portland. If you close your eyes after looking at this photo, you can almost smell the juice...

If you want more than that, check out their Rastaban Pinot Noir. Made from Biodynamic Grapes.

Organic Estate Wineries Dominate The Daily Meal's Top 10 Wineries List for Second Year in a Row

The Daily Meal web site, an online web site focused on food and drink, has once again announced its list of the 2016 Top 100 Wineries in the U.S. based on input from 50 somms, chefs, restauranteurs and wine writers.

For the second year in a row, five of the top 100 are wineries with organic vineyards.

In the U.S., fewer than 3 percent of vineyards are organically farmed, even in fine wine areas. Five wineries with extensive organic estates in the top 10 means they're outperforming their peers with conventional vineyards significantly, since their numbers represent 50% (not 3%) of the top ten.

Overall, there were 13 wineries with certified organic estates on the list.

Of these, 11 made the 2015 list as well.

1. Ridge Vineyards
No surprise - this is one of the country's bests on almost any list. The Ridge Monte Bello Cabernet - internationally acclaimed, every prize in the book. The old vine Zins from its Sonoma vines - also top rated (and much more affordably priced).
Organic vineyard acreage: 277

2. Tablas Creek
This Rhone powerhouse in Paso Robles brings the cachet of the Perrin family of Chateauneuf du Pape to a limestone rich site in California's Central Coast. Plus, the Paso estate features a vineyard full of the Perrin's valuable Rhone clones.
Organic vineyard acreage: 127

4. Calera
Another Central Coast wonder created by an American vintner obsessed with finding just the right limestone soil - but in his case, it was for growing Pinot Noir. It's been acclaimed for decades - and justly so.
Organic vineyard acreage: 83

6. Heitz Wine Cellars
A grande old dame of the Napa Valley, Heitz makes acclaimed Cabernet and a very nice Sauvignon Blanc. Its Trailside Cabernet is not to be missed. (Nor the Martha's.)
Organic vineyard acreage: 275

10. Robert Sinskey Vineyards
A Pinot Noir powerhouse in Napa's Carneros region, Sinskey has prevailed over wine critics who "didn't get" its food friendly wines by appealing to chefs directly and finding receptivity there. It also makes a great Alsatian blend.
Organic vineyard acreage: 176

11. Turley*
Old vines and especially old vine Zinfandel rule here. They make more than 14 unique single vineyard wines from historic vineyards around the state. Visit them in Paso for the biggest selection.
Organic vineyard acreage: 150

23. Qupé 
California's best Rhone wines. The estate wines are Biodynamically farmed and made with native yeast and without additives (except sulfites to preserve the wine). It's a high wire act - making sure the terroir, the vintage, and the yeasts all sync up - and they do, producing stellar wines vintage after vintage.
Organic and Biodynamic vineyard acreage: 40

33. Spottswoode
Often charmingly referred to as the Grace Kelly of Napa, this pristine St. Helena estate is the product of the Novak family, who rose from a tragic death in the family to create one of the region's most renowned Cabernet brands.
Organic and Biodynamic vineyard acreage: 40

50. Neyers

All of its current estate wines come from certified vines (although future vintages will not). The Cabernet, Merlot and Left Bank Red are all from its organic estate and are highly recommended.
Organic vineyard acreage: 12 (through 2014)

55. Beckmen Vineyards

A leader in the American Rhone movement, the Beckmen's Biodynamically farmed Ballard Canyon vineyard is a thing of beauty, perched on the top of Purisima Mountain. You can choose from three different Grenaches or four different Syrahs, made from its grapes - that's how meticulous the Beckmens are.

Organic and Biodynamic vineyard acreage: 125

70. Eyrie Vineyards

The most famous Pinot Noir winery in Oregon, run by the descendants of those who brought the fabled Burgundian grapevine to its Northwest home. Try the white wines, too.

Organic vineyard acreage: 150

81. Bokisch Vineyards

The Lodi outlier for being both devoted to Spanish varietals and organic farming - neither of which are common among in this Central Valley region. Its wines are affordably priced, too. If you haven't tried Albarino, now may be the time.

Organic vineyard acreage: 84

88. Staglin Family Vineyard*

A Cabernet great among greats in Napa Valley, it grows its Cab on sites beloved by the great Andre Tchelistcheff, a giant among giants in Napa, for his own Beaulieu reserve Cab back in the day. Their wine philanthropy is admirable.

Organic vineyard acreage: 41

*Wineries that were not on the 2015 list (strangely enough) but were added to the 2016 list.

See the 2015 organic winners here.

The Biodynamic Wine Tincture Made with Pot

You've got to read the LA Times story on this one. Find it here.

Of course, wine in ancient times was often made as a medicinal beverage, carrying healing herbs.