Can Wine Save The Planet?

We find ourselves drawn to biodynamic vineyards and wineries.  The wines they produce are just a step ahead in taste and nuance, and we wanted to discover why.  We started pursuing interviews with biodynamic wineries. Tablas Creek, Montinore Estate,  Syncline, and Hedges Family Wine were all early on our list.  We found ourselves drawn to their wine and how they farmed their grapes, the way they expressed themselves, the way they looked at not just their vineyards but the planet.

When we traveled to Australia with the Wine Media Conference, we visited Krinklewood and Lowe wines.  Back in the United States, in the Applegate Valley, we discovered Troon and Cowhorn. In the Willamette Valley, we found Johan.  On our trip to Italy last year with the Wine Media Conference we discovered, Marcel Zanolari, on a press trip this year, Cirelli and Emidio Pepe in Abruzzo.

Visiting these vineyards and tasting their wines only reinforced the belief that farming biodynamically and applying the extra effort to make the soil and ecosystem better were, in FACT, making these wines better.

Former Cowhorn Vineyard owner Bill Steele told us during an interview on Biodynamics, “in Biodynamics we found our people”.   In a sense we also found our own people, and continue to find our own people through winemakers, writers, and advocates, all working separately towards the same goal. What is that goal? To have a purpose that is meaningful, providing better food, making a wine that you are proud to share with family and friends, leaving the farm and planet better than you found it.