In lieu of our normal monthly newsletter, given our home base in Northern California, we at Charles Communications Associates, representing wineries from our own backyard and around the world, dedicate this missive to those affected by the Northern California fires of October 2017
The Napa Valley has recently taken a lot of heat – both literally, due to the serious temperature spike that hit the valley earlier this month, as well as figuratively from those who think the aberrant fluctuation spelled doom for the entire region’s harvest. The media has been eager to report this story, which we can all understand – what’s sexier than a potential climate change story about America’s most recognized wine region? Fortunately for the consumer, cooler heads prevail for those of us on the ground, and I wanted to share the perspective from someone who has been around the vineyard block.
Meet Faith Armstrong, the winemaker behind Onward and Farmstrong wines. As refreshing as the Pétillant Naturel she makes of Malvasia Bianca, many of the words used to describe Faith's wine could be used to describe the winemaker herself. Honest, vibrant, unfiltered, true to her origins, bright, complex.
As we dive into the New Year, the Charles Communications team recommits ourselves to sustainability. It is thanks to the many eco-conscious producers and green businesses here in San Francisco that we are fortunate enough to eat in good conscience and do our part to save the earth. This week on All the Swirl, CCA intern Jules Lydon profiles the sustainable “wine pub” in our own Bay Area backyard: Jamber.
In his controversial article, The Worst Mistake in the History of the Human Race, Jared Diamond contends that agriculture has set humanity on a doomed path, blaming the invention of farming for the advent of social inequality, disease, despotism, and not least of all, the destruction of our planet. With the profusion of stories about food monopolies, contamination, GMO debates, and Monsanto’s evils in recent years, you might be tempted to agree. But can agriculture ever be inherently good? Not just an improvement upon the industrial model that has done so much damage, but an actual solution? Increasingly, agriculturalists, academics, and experts have hope that it can.
This week on All the Swirl Hillary Lyons interviews Ayele Solomon, honey winemaker at The Honey Wine Company based in San Francisco and conservationist with Wildlife Works Carbon on how he has tied t’ej, Ethiopia’s honey wine, cultural preservation, economic empowerment, environmental sustainability.
This week on All the Swirl, Hillary Lyons interviews Rodrigo Soto, Chilean winemaker and trailblazer in sustainable winemaking in the Southern Hemisphere. As summer comes to a close, bringing high temperatures and more early harvests, Rodrigo Soto reflects on Chile's distinct terroirs, his winemaking philosophy, and the impacts of climate change on the world of wine.
