Green Options

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Bonnie Prince Charles, in a symbolic gesture, has converted his 38 year old Aston Martin rag top to run on ethanol, derived from English Wine.   Aides said the action was due to the pattern of Royal trips set by the Foreign Office.

Prince Charles Chief Aide, Sir Michael Peat is quoted as saying:

‘Charles only travelled two or three hundred miles a year in the Aston but he wanted it to be environmentally friendly. It just happened that our bioethanol supplier makes the fuel from surplus English wine.’

The Prince has been reducing his carbon footprint, already cutting carbon emissions by 12.5 percent, in line with the Government’s Kyoto target.  He has since doubled the target to a 25 percent reduction in emissions by 2018.

Their science is impressive, but their timing is dead on. It doesn’t quite seem fair that California has been blessed with the perfect growing climate for some of the world’s best agriculture (and of course, wine) but saddled with a water shortage.

To help the Napa winemakers and wineries worldwide oversee their crop irrigation and management, Sebastian Payen and Thibaut Scholasch, of Fruition Sciences have turned the science of hydration [...]

I’m quite the dreadful snob when it comes to the consumption of alcohol. Whereas the less intellectual types may sit on verandas, sipping red wine, discussing Voltaire, I’m indoors, crate of cheap lager at my side, football on the telly.

Whereas they may swill the grape juice, inhale the aroma and swoon over the subtleties cascading o’er the taste buds, I’m already on my third can and the match yet to start.

But my, how I jolted when I came across a story suggesting that English vineyards may, in decades to come, suffer because our summers are set to become too hot.

Though I’ve lived in the Bay Area for three years, I don’t drive, and so this past weekend marked only my second trip up to Wine Country. I had some friends in from out of town, and when choosing our itinerary my only requirements were that we visit a few green wineries.

As a friend pointed out to me though, you’re almost more hard-pressed to find wineries that don’t have some sort of green aspect to them, these days. From solar panels, to wind energy, to organic growing standards, wineries are becoming more and more eco-friendly every day.

There are a number of resources on finding green wineries in California. The Bay Area Green Business Program lists wineries both in Napa and Sonoma counties that meet their requirements. You can check out this sustainablog post rating some Bay Area wineries. And though this winery guide from Green Girls LA is a few years old, it’s still fairly accurate and comprehensive.

Of the wineries my group stopped at this past weekend, my favorite by far was Grgich Hills Estate in Rutherford, CA. Don’t let the difficult to pronounce name deter you; Grgich Hills is the only winery in Napa Valley that features exclusively biodynamic wines. When you first start explaining biodynamic processes, you’re met with a lot of skepticism. (As soon as I said “cycles of the moon” I could see eyes rolling in my group.) Fortunately our server at Grgich was able to explain it in a very practical way.

Regardless of how “green” we consider ourselves, we’re all concerned about the quality of the food we put on our own plates and serve to our families. Tonight, the Sundance Channel’s The Green explores the world of food, from farm to plate. It’s award-winning series Big Ideas for a Small Planet profiles a large food processor, a wine-maker, and a New Mexico high school student who are all doing their part to reject industrial-scale agriculture, and the bland, homogeneous food it produces. Following that, Sundance presents the documentary All In This Tea from directors Les Blank (Burden of Dreams) and Gina Leibrecht.

Parducci Wine Cellars announces the company’s conversion to 100% solar and wind power becoming the nation’s first carbon neutral winery.

Paul Fenn of Local Power called me first thing this morning. Paul wrote California’s Community Choice Energy law (AB117) and his firm is a finalist to operate San Francisco’s Community Choice Energy program, which will build 360 MW of local renewable energy. But thats not what he called about.

Paul was excited about Sonoma County’s plan to achieve “carbon-free” water by 2015 - that is, using renewable energy sources such as solar and geothermal to power the county’s entire network of treatment plants and pumps. The plan is close to being released and today the SF Chronicle reported on one of the key initiatives to take the waste out of wastewater.

It’s been over a hundred years, but soon a three-masted, 19th century barque will transport 60,000 bottles of French wine from Bordeaux to Dublin. And this is just the beginning for vintners in the Languedoc region.

The 170 foot Belem, launched in 1896, spent many years transporting choclate from South America, and gets it’s name from a Brazilian port. It will be the first of seven three-masted vessels planned to be in service by [...]

Last week, 350 wine makers and scientists from around the globe discussed how global warming is effecting their wines and how they can adjust their productions to emit less emissions themselves. Carbon sequestration was a hot topic, whereby carbon dioxide (CO2, a major contributor to global warming) is captured and stored underground, instead of letting it escape up into the atmosphere.

One admirable entrepreneur explained how he’s trying sequestering the CO2 himself:

Spanish producer Miguel Torres

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We all know that good things come in small packages, but small packages are good in their own right. Less filler, fewer layers of packaging for each product, smaller packages to increase the amount of any product can be shipped on one truck or ship are conservation best-practices.

But we consumers are used to slick packaging and cool bags, boxes and wrappers. Designers are now challenged to come up with high-concept packaging that doesn’t waste resources.

It’s like Project Runway for everyday products. And here are some of the pioneering entrants in the less-weight, recyclable, biodegradable packaging challenge.

Three Thieves sells their Bandit wine in TetraPaks.

It’s different. It’s recyclable. Although a TetraPak not so unique, given that soymilk is packaged similarly, Three Thieves is definitely going against the grain in the wine industry.

Another wine company so believes in the power of its packaging that it devotes a significant part of its website to its TetraPak packaging, diving into the various layers in the package to describe how it is made and why they like it.

California Healthy is a new guide book written by Patricia Hamilton, a native Californian. The book claims to be "The adventurer’s guide to local delicacies, fine wine, great walks and the good life." While it doesn’t do all that it purports, it certainly is a useful tool in some regards. As a native to the state myself, I was impressed with some of

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