Top 23 Organic-Eco Friendly and Fair Trades Wines

I am not a wine connoisseur, I generally buy wine based upon price, the pictures and or the name (ie Mad Housewife)! About six months ago, I switched all my wine purchases to organic wines. I figured if these wineries went to all the trouble to produce organic wine, I should at least support them. Plus, I am trying hard to go organic as much as possible. Wine is one of the easiest products to go organic and local. At first it was Parducci, because that was the only organic wine I could find, now Henry’s has a full shelf of organic wines and liquors. I am drinking Bonterra ($9.95) and really like it and no complaints from any guests. What is Organic Wine? Basically it’s wine that has been grown without pesticides, chemical fertilizers, fungicides and herbicides. According to Organic Wine Journal, many winemakers are organic but don’t want to go through the certification process to get the ‘Organic’ label. For a wine to get a USDA certified organic label, the wine must be made from 100% organically grown ingredients.

I have listed some wines that are either sustainable, eco friendly and or organic. These are not all the wines, but it’s a good place to start.

Organic- Eco Friendly and Fair Trade Wines:

1. Alma Rosa– (Buellton, CA) Uses green farming techniques, water conservation
2. Banrock Station– (Riverland, South Australia) Contributed more that $5 Million to wetland conservation projects, installed water conservating irrigation. Runs the solar powered Wine and wetland center.
3. Benziger Family Winery (Glen Ellen, CA) Uses natural cork, sustainable and biodynamic wines
4. Bonterra– Uses organic Grapes- I like them.
5. Cakebread Cellars (Rutherford, CA) Organic grapes, uses recycled glass containers.
6. Ceago Vinegarden– (Redwood Valley, CA) – Does not use chemical fertilizers and pesticides. Uses only homeopathic sprays.
7. Etica– Fair Trade Wine from producers in Africa, Asia, Latin America and the US.
8. Fairhills– Western Cape, South Africa- handpicked organic grapes. FairTrade
9. Fetzer– Mendocino, CA- Powered by renewable energies (solar, wind and geothermal.) Compost and has been reducing landfill materials by 95% since 1990
10. Frogs Leap (Rutherford, CA) Practices green farming. LEED certified, uses solar energy (I like this wine too)
11. Frey Vineyards– first certified biodynamic wine in the US
12. Greenwood Ridge– Anderson Valley- 100% solar powered.
13. Grgich Hills Estate (Rutherford, CA) organic Farming, uses natural corks, solar powered enery
14. Hall Wines (Napa Valley) First LEEDs Certified Winery
15. Handley Cellars Estate Vineyard (Anderson Valley, CA) 75% solar energy powered, avoids using chemical. make wines from organic grapes.
16. Kendall Jackson (Uses solar power, water conservation
17. Kunde Estate- Sonoma, CA- conserves energy, restores creek, and uses cover crops. Offer Eco Green Tours and taste tasting.
18. Long Meadow Ranch– Napa Valley, CA- Sustainable organic farm that uses homemade composted fertilizer
19. Parducci- Mendocino Wine Company (Ukiah, CA) – 1st US Carbon Neutral Winery. – I like the chardonnay.
20. Paul Dolan Vineyards– Mendocino- organic and biodynamic winery
21. Quivera– Sonoma, CA- 100% organic and solar.
22. Sokol Blosser – Dundee Hills, OR- Organic, certified by Salmon-Safe (salmon-safe.org). and was the first winery to earn LEED Certification
23. Wente– Livermore Valley, CA) Farming for Future Program.

Resources:

• Ethical SuperStore: Fairtrade, organic and socially responsible wines.
• Sierra Club- Organic Wine Reviews
• Organic Wine Journal
• Organic Consumer Association
• The Organic Wine Company
• Eco Wine
• Organic Wine Press