Tag Archives: Organic

Making everyday an Earth Day

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As Earth Day approaches every year, we grow reflective, challenged by the perennial question, “what more could we do?”

What more could we do to reduce our environmental footprint? To help simpatico partners succeed in doing things right? To widen the audience, thirsty for more ecologically minded growers and winemakers? What more could we do for our planet, wild habitat, and the health of our friends and family, vineyard workers and winemakers? This year we are handing out millions of bee-friendly wildflower seeds to create more forage for our local pollinators. These are non GMO annual and perennial wildflower seeds, each in a plant-based, compostable envelope.

There is always more to be done and our ecologically minded endeavors at The Wine Company gain momentum each year. Our ever growing list of Sustainable, Organic, Biodynamic and Vegan wines expands year on year and has never been more enticing. Not merely for the sterling principle involved but the quality of these wines. Our commitments go on and on. From reducing our carbon footprint to minding our company garden and wildlife habitat, from championing wineries powered by renewable energy to embracing solar power for all our needs at The Wine Company.

Solar Edge dashboard link

Track megawatt hours harvested from our solar garden clicking above to our SolarEdge Dashboard

By working together, our ongoing commitments become yours in turn. Buying wines from the growers who follow sustainable, organic and biodynamic methods, we embrace them in turn. Retailers and restaurateurs championing our imports from The Wine Company permit these worthy wines a wider reach, and thereby allow our greater networks in turn, a regular opportunity to take part in this constant endeavor, of making every day an Earth Day.

We thank you for your interest in our sustainable initiatives, for supporting our Sustainable, Organic, and Biodynamic selections, and for our combined commitment to #makingeverydayanearthday.

Frog’s Leap Part One: Riding West

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We are proud to announce The Wine Company as the Minnesota distributor for the legendary wines of Frog’s Leap of Napa Valley.

As you get to know the story and philosophy behind Frog’s Leap, you’ll understand why all involved consider this partnership a perfect fit for The Wine Company. Last month founder/winemaker John Williams, along with his VP/Director of Sales Jonah Beer, kicked off Frog’s Leap for the sales team, and conveyed the incredible background of the winery. We would like to share it with you.

John Williams with a cow's horn for Biodynamic preparations

John Williams with a cow’s horn for Biodynamic preparations

PART ONE — Riding West

As a student of farming at Cornell University in upstate New York, John Williams caught the viticulture and winemaking bug. Stints at various upstate New York wineries proved he had a talent and a passion for the work, so he decided to ride his Harley to California to see what the west coast had to offer. Not having much cash in his pocket, he asked his friend Helen if she knew anybody out there. Turns out Helen’s brother Larry lived in Napa Valley, and she told John he could camp in her brother’s yard. If the names “Helen” and “Larry” are ringing bells, it’s because you might recognize their last name: Turley.

Fast forward a couple weeks, and John was in the Napa Valley knocking on Larry’s door. No answer. Not wanting to spend the $2 a night to camp in the State Park (he was down to his last $40 after buying some wine), he decided to set up his tent in Larry’s yard and climbed in with a case of wine.

Larry arrived and was understandably upset that some kid decided his yard was a campground. “Who the hell are you?”

“I’m John.”

“Well what the hell are you doing on my property?”

“Drinking wine. Want some?” and John held up a glass.

“Well, sure.” As John tells the story, it was a quick matter of time before they polished off the better part of the case, became new best buds, and decided to conquer the world.

John found a job at a small and relatively unknown winery in the Stag’s Leap District called Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars. Working for Warren Warniarski, and under the tutelage of none other than André Tchelistcheff, the first wine that he worked with was the 1973 Stag’s Leap Cabernet Sauvignon … the same wine that would go on to win the Judgement of Paris tasting in 1976 and put the Napa Valley indelibly on the world wine map.

As time went on and John and Larry honed their abilities, they decided to make their own wine on the side. Not a big project, but something just for fun. Larry had room in his barn (located on an old frog farm that sold the critters for thirty cents a dozen to the fancy restaurants of San Francisco), but they needed a name and a label. To reflect the partnership, they combined “frog farm” and “Stag’s Leap” to come up with “Frog’s Leap.””I called up Warren to ask if this was okay,” says John, “and he said ‘This is going to be small thing, right, just a hobby?”

“Of course, Warren, ” said John. Warren signed off on the idea and the name Frog’s Leap was born. Who knew what it was going to become?

Coming next: Part two — the iconic label and early days of organic farming

1988 FL Cab

Tasting an incredible, balanced, and perfectly delicious 1988 Frog’s Leap Cabernet with John Williams at The Wine Company offices.

Defining Sustainable, Organic, and Biodynamic wines

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Want to start a fight in a tasting room? Ready to see some Riedel get winged across a table at a great restaurant? Do you want to hear a sommelier pontificate endlessly on a subject other than how the bottle of Chambertin you just bought is holding up?

Just say this: “Green wines are better wines.”

Pandora’s box just opened.

There are few subjects debated heavier in the wine world than if the efforts of “green” producers make for better wine.

In our opinion at The Wine Company, after years of experience and tasting wines and visiting vineyards is …. well … yes, usually.

Here is why: vineyard owners that farm sustainably, organically, or biodynamically are simply more present in their vineyards and more in touch with their vines. It’s simple logic: a farmer that walks the fields five days a week has a better chance of sensing minute changes and thus not having to take dramatic steps to adjust to problems (i.e. spraying a ton of chemicals). There are organic farmers that ignore their vineyards and make bad wine. And there are conventional farmers that ignore their vineyards and make bad wine.

But the secret tends to come down to one thing: focus. The wineries that are obsessive about their vines are also the ones making incredible and dynamic wines. 

Learning about the ‘green’ wine movement is important and if you’re going to take sustainable, organic, or biodynamic wines seriously you have to understand how they are defined. A fine resource to get started with are our pages on Sustainable, Organic, and Biodynamic Wines, which provides a list of producers to seek out.