From the San Francisco Convention & Visitor’s Bureau:
Since the Slow Food movement is invariably linked to the Bay Area’s top restaurants, it’s no surprise that many California wineries are paying attention to green practices and incorporating biodynamic processes in their wines. Many San Francisco restaurants are offering biodynamic wine lists to guests who prefer a “green” option.
Some of the Bay Area restaurants, hotels and wineries that offer an organic, biodynamic and sustainable wine list include:
Ame Restaurant in the St. Regis Hotel (Yerba Buena)
689 Mission St.
San Francisco, 94105
415-284-4040
www.amerestaurant.com
InterContinental Mark Hopkins San Francisco (Nob Hill)
999 California St.
San Francisco, 94108
415-392-3434
www.intercontinental.com/sanfrancisco
InterContinental San Francisco (Yerba Buena)
888 Howard St.
San Francisco, 94103
415-616-6500
www.intercontinentalsanfrancisco.com
El Dorado Kitchen (Sonoma)
405 First St.,
West Sonoma, CA 95476
707 996 3030
www.eldoradosonoma.com
The Moss Room at the California Academy of Sciences (Golden Gate Park)
55 Music Concourse Dr. Golden Gate Park
San Francisco, 94118
415-876-6121
http://www.themossroom.com/
The Orchard Hotels (Financial District)
Orchard Hotel at 466 Bush St. and Orchard Garden Hotel at 655 Bush St.
415-362-8878 and 415-399-9807
San Francisco, 94108
www.theorchardhotels.com
Paragon Restaurant (South Beach)
701 Second St.
San Francisco, 94107
415-537-9020
www.paragonrestaurant.com
Peju Winery (Napa)
8466 St. Helena Highway
Rutherford, CA 94573
707-963-3600 or 800-446-7358
www.peju.com
Seghesio Family Vineyards (Healdsburg)
14730 Grove St.
Healdsburg, 95448
707-433-3579
www.seghesio.com
Spruce (Marina/Presidio)
3640 Sacramento St.
San Francisco, 94109
415-931-5100
www.sprucesf.com
Yesterday the beautiful sun was rising at 6:30 in the morning through the group of trees to the east of the vineyard. It was like red-orange velvet fire, promising only a softness so kind you couldn’t reprove it in any way. I silently welcomed its warmth that would eventually slather itself over me as we picked our Sauvignon Bland and Semillon for our wine we call Haven.
We have had 3 picks so far this 2010 vintage, the first: our Sauvignon Blanc from 4 year old vines, the second: our Pinot Blanc, and yesterday our third: Sauvignon Blanc and Semillon for Haven, a wine named after our soils here.
I celebrate this tiny moment in time because it is the first harvest here at Shinn Estate Vineyards under the guidelines of the National Organic Program. However, we have gone much further than just meeting these standards. The practices of the Oregon Live program, the Vine Balance New York program, the Demeter Association and our own methods of biologically intensive winegrowing have all comingled in the vineyard to produce our ripest and most balanced harvest to date. The Sauvignon Blanc has just begun ferment and tastes like bright ripe pears and grapefruit. Anthony Nappa, our winemaker, soaked the Pinot Blanc on the skins overnight letting the figgyness of the raisins into the wine. Right now, the field blend of Sauvignon Blanc Musque and Semillion is soaking for 3 days on its skins before Anthony will press it and transfer it to oak barrels.
As I trekked through the rows picking and lugging my lug of fruit through sometimes knee-high cover crop, I found the time to think back about my years converting this farm to a cleaner method of farming. Comments from fellow winegrowers like “you better be careful Barbara” and “organics is a croc” flowed through mind as I picked. Other choice phrases came to light containing words like “lunacy” and “occult”. I found myself laughing out loud at one point and my vineyard crew looked at me wondering what I was thinking.
The meadow that we grow under the vines is a splendid mat of grasses and broadleafs that provide pasture for the vines. As we mow under the trellis and around the trunks, the green manure left behind decays and is transformed by soil microorganisms into plant available nutrients. I look at my vines as if they were cows and sheep grazing in a meadow…..I grow free range wine!
I shouldn’t be so bold as to say I, because my whole vineyard crew has their specific tasks to perform with this way of farming: Jose loads and drains the compost tea and runs it through the irrigation. Guadalupe loads up the fish emulsion, Carlos spreads the compost and applies the fresh herbal teas and horn silica, and Israel builds the preliminary compost piles as he helps Anthony to press off the wines. They all scout the vineyard for problems everyday they are working.
Next harvest will be the beginning of the merlot, which will be early next week….about 3 weeks before normal merlot harvest. We have a 3 acre block at over 23 Brix and it is 80 degrees today. What a year.
The Tanged Vine Bar + Kitchen has become one of the hottest in wine bars in New York City, featuring organic, Biodynamic and natural wines — as well as a few orange ones. The Organic Wine Journal sent Lyle Fass to interview Evan Spingarn, the mastermind behind the wine list that is helping transform the “wine wasteland” that was the Upper West Side.
Shinn Estate is in the first year of their organic certification process. Barbara Shinn shares her progress with us.
August 21, 2010
Art and Intuition
I rode my bike into the vineyard today to spend some time just looking at the vines and trying to discern if two of the drier blocks needed irrigation. All-week thundershowers have been predicted, but only blue skies and 90 degree temperatures have been the result. The same thundershowers are predicted for the next three days, but I am not counting on it at this point. Since July 21 we have only gotten one-tenth of an inch.
As I ride up the path into the middle of the vines I thought about a story Butch Rowehl told me some years back. Butch was the last person to farm this land before me and he planted corn and rye for grain. In 2002 David and I had planted about half the vineyard and Butch still farmed the other half. That spring he had planned on letting the cover crop of winter rye continue to grow into a harvestable crop. On the day he plowed a small one acre piece for us that was to be planted with Cabernet Franc he ended up plowing the entire field of his rye under too. When I asked him about it he looked down and smiled to himself and said “Barbara, I got in the tractor and when my plow started to turn the soil, it turned better than it had in years so I couldn’t stop myself. It was the best spring plowing I can ever remember having” He planted the corn instead and that was that. That was the moment I understood the art and intuition of farming.
So, as I rode my bike up into the vineyard I thought about Butch and knew that my decision would be based more on smaller signals from the vines, the soil, the sound of the crickets, the way the heat hit my face. I had to listen to the vines, not calculate the odds.
September 1, 2010
Question 1: Why is it that the Organic Trial in Chardonnay at a local experimental vineyard did not work? Why can’t 25 vines be managed organically in a 2.5 acre vineyard where agricultural chemical experiments are taking place simultaneously on the surrounding vines? Why did the 25 vines fail in the 2.5 acre vineyard situated on a 68 acre farm where even more agricultural chemical experiments are taking place on other crops?
Perhaps I just answer the question by simply asking it?
Question 2: 10 years ago I was told it was impossible to successfully farm wine organically here on the North Fork. Now it is said “well, I guess you can do it on 20 acres.”
If we can do it on 20 acres why can’t it be done on 25 vines?
This is not a criticism of the experimental vineyard and the people who farm it. The trials that are conducted here are valuable to all of us growing wine. The people who conduct the trials are well educated in agriculture and plant science and selflessly come to the aid of all of us growing wine here. The Organic Trial simply raised questions that perhaps were not intended upon the outset of the experiment…and they are very important questions indeed.
Question 3: Are we looking at a situation where the farmer must treat her farm as a whole and allow for instinctive agricultural wisdom to play a role? Could it be that successfully farming organically is not just simply substituting an organic input for a non-organic input?
Is it highly improbable to be able to convert land to a more holistic method of farming by simply going “cold turkey” instead of slowly transitioning the land over?
Rudolph Steiner gave us solace in these questions by his kind words:
“A farmer who senses the existence of a certain inevitable relationship between human beings and the kingdoms of nature – the interaction and interpenetration of the forces of the earth, sun, stars, elementals and all other nature spirits – and who sees these interactions and interpenetrations giving rise to the mineral, plant, animal and human kingdoms, feels a host of questions assailing him at every turn in his daily work to which his current knowledge can supply no answers, and which therefore greatly trouble him as unresolved questions. He senses the fact of these forces and their interworking, yet knows nothing of the way they do so, nor of their essential nature.”
September 3, 2010
Today I looked at a picture I took of the vines back in June. Sometimes their beauty pulls me into the vineyard and I just need to go quietly and be there.
The spring sun was so gentle that day, the vines were reaching up to the sky and the tendrils were quietly twirling in the air.
Now it is September and it is raining torrentially thanks to the hurricane named Earl. The vines are strong and wise, yet still vulnerable…it seems like they are always vulnerable. I thought about going deep into the vineyard today to a favorite spot hoping to somehow warn of the approaching weather situation. But I decided not to go. They had to go through this alone.
Now I regret it, the rain is hard and the fruit is soft.
I wish the tender beauty of June that is shown in this picture was with me now in September.
September 4, 2010
2 inches of rain yesterday and a dry wind is blowing, drying everything. The fruit is unscathed. We made it.
September 10, 2010
The harvest is swirling about us and it seems like everyone is picking. But for me it is not time to pick. All of the fruit has an indication of high sugar levels because we are 2 to 3 weeks ahead of average harvest time. But if the fruit does not yet please me or David or Anthony on the palate, why harvest 2 to 3 weeks early…only to pick at average ripeness? The ascending moon* will commence on September 16 when the sap in the vines will again begin to rise, bringing nutrition to the berries.
That is when we will begin harvest.
*ascending moon: the moon has 4 cycles one of which is ascending and descending. The arc of the moon in the sky is higher during an ascending moon and lower during the descending moon. During the ascending moon the sap of plants rises and this is when I prefer to harvest. The sap, as a carrier of nutrients, will send nourishment to the fruit making for healthier fermentations and therefore better extraction, more fruit character, and optimal tannin structure in the wines.
September 13, 2010
Carlos and Gaudalupe just walked out to the vineyard to lower the deer fence. We are going to reseed the north block with alsike and sweet yellow clover today. I am envisioning the vineyard floor next June vibrantly blooming in yellow and white.
This is the wine all wine geeks live for. Once you’re in the cult you’re never coming out. From Lyle’s favorite winery in Spain comes the Lopez de Heredia Viña Gravonia Rioja Blanco Crianza 2000. Nothing else in the world tastes quite like it.
You can study wine books all you like, but it isn’t until the first time you try saying St-Estèphe out loud, and draw blank stares from around the room, that you realize you might want to learn how to pronounce some of these regions and wine terms properly.
Enter the Enotria iPhone app. A simple wine guide that helps you learn the correct way to say over 200 regions and wine words, focussed on Italy, Spain and Germany. Updates will expand the database to Spain and Austria, among others, and include google maps of the wine regions. And to give back to the wine world, developer Melissa Lavrinc Smith is giving away one scholarship for the introductory course given by The Court of Master Sommeliers for every 7000 downloads.
If you’re a fan of wine and apps that focus on doing one thing well, it’s $2.99 well spent.
We’re a little skeptical of any “best of” list when it comes to wine, but Decanter Magazine has selected their 10 Best Organic Wines from their Decanter World Wine Awards 2010. If you’d like to see their selections you can find the list here.
An article in today’s New York Times Business Section talks about Champagne switching to lighter bottles to reduce their carbon footprint.
The Champagne industry has embarked on a drive to cut the 200,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide it emits every year transporting billions of tiny bubbles around the world. Producing and shipping accounts for nearly a third of Champagne’s carbon emissions, with the hefty bottle the biggest offender.
September 22, 2010
