July Wine Club: America the Bold
Ten years ago this month I visited Ridge Vineyards in California and was so pumped about their sustainability practices (including solar!).
America makes great wine, and not just in California. All 50 states produce wine, and—given the differences in soil, climate, weather, and other factors—some producers have to get really creative. That’s what we mean this month: “America the Bold” is a wine-producing country we can be excited about and recognize for all the cutting-edge things Americans in wine are doing. And the more experimentation, the more opportunities to try things out that are better for the planet, too!
What’s more, buying American wine means that the wine hasn’t traveled nearly as far as wine from elsewhere. When the wine travels a shorter distance, the carbon footprint is naturally lower, with less fuel and energy needed to get it to its destination. What a huge plug for Virginia, Maryland, and D.C.-made wine! (See this study in Nature magazine to dig into more details about what makes up the carbon footprint of wine if you’re curious.)
On the sustainability front more broadly, the US is chock-full of producers who are doing incredible things. From Tablas Creek in Paso Robles California, which is the world’s first Regenerative Organic Certified Vineyard, to Matthiasson Wines, where Steve and Jill Matthiasson are passionate about better farming and about taking care of the people that work for them, there are lots of good things happening.
And back to “America the Bold” and our wines this month. We’ve got selections from three experimenters—winemakers who are recent upstarts, who try new blends, and who source grapes creatively to lower costs. Read on for more info, and then please enjoy and let us know what you think!
Do you have wines you’d like to see in the club? Wine recommendations you need on the fly? Shoot me a note or message me on Instagram at @getgoodwine! I’d be more than happy to chat. And for past months’ write-ups, just click here.
The Wines
We are going to go in the order of red, white, and rosé this month. (Call me corny!)
Our first wine comes to us from New York’s Finger Lakes and from team Julia and Alex Alvarez-Perez who started their wine project, Usonia, in 2019. This wine, called “Change the Weather or Change Your Mind,” is made of red and white grapes and reminded us of Virginia’s Family Meal by Common Wealth Crush from our October club. The grapes are mainly Merlot, Cabernet Franc, and Grüner Veltliner along with some Tocai Friulano, Chancellor, and Verdelet. The quirky name of this wine (who could change the weather after all?), comes from the nimble way in which Julia and Alex sourced fruit from elsewhere when an early freeze made some of the grapes they’d intended to use unusable.
Excited to hear about what’s on the horizon, too, for Usonia. They discontinued the use of herbicides and insecticides on the property, and they plan to plant hybrids in the future, too. Plus their whites are super tasty! Cheers!
— Usonia Change the Weather or Change Your Mind 2023
Our next wine is a white sparkling that we just had to include in the club. It’s from Brianne Day, who sources grapes from a small group of Oregon farmers who all grow organically, biodynamically, or sustainably. This wine is a blend of 80% Vermentino and 20% Muscat and is vibrant, fresh, and well-balanced.
Similar to Julia and Alex of Usonia, Brianne has also had to improvise in the face of the unexpected for some of her other wines. In 2020, she bought grapes from producers despite the fact that their vineyards suffered from the effects of wildfires in Willamette Valley that year. She did what she was able and the result was apparently delicious, a “Lemonade Rosé.”
Hope you love this one! Cheers.
— Day Wines Mamacita 2023
Our last wine this month is the rosé of the trio. It’s the Enfield Wine Co. California Rosé “Foot Tread,” and—you guessed it—the grapes that make up this wine were tread by foot! It’s hard to get more sustainable than that in terms of energy use.
John Lockwood and Amy Seese of Enfield Wine Co. experiment with this rosé from year to year, choosing different sites and fruit to make the wine. This year’s version is Zinfandel and Mataro, and the color of the wine alone is lovely. This wine is a little tough to get ahold of, so we’re thrilled to be able to offer it to you. Enjoy!