Pure Luxury’s blog has covered many events in Sonoma County for Earth Day 2010. Although the official Earth Day this year is on April 22, events span from this Saturday and Sunday to next week. As a Certified Green Transportation Company Pure Luxury decided quite some time ago to offer an Eco Tour for our clients who love wine and want to learn more about wineries with organic and biodynamic farming practices. Pure Luxury partnered with three Certified Organic and Biodynamic family-owned wineries in Northern California’s Dry Creek Valley for an unforgettable day of exploring California Wine Country.
The tour begins at Montemaggiore located on top of a mountain in Dry Creek Valley. Vincent and Lise Ciolino knew from the start that they wanted their wines to represent the beauty of their land. In order to accomplish this, they knew their land would be farmed in a natural way encouraging the soil, the bugs, the moon, and all of nature to work together. Their mountainside vineyard is tended without pesticides or other chemicals that can harm anyone working in the vineyard or the surrounding land and animals. Visitors enjoy the view, taste Montemaggiore olive oils and award-winning wines, and have the option of ordering lunch made with fresh, local ingredients including some from the Ciolino’s family garden. Their 2006 Paolo’s Vineyard Syrah received 90 points from Robert Parker reinforcing the ability of an organic, biodynamic winery to create world-class wines.
The next stop on our Eco Tour is a winery commited to nurturing their land to produce impeccable artisan wines – Quivira Vineyards and Winery. The staff at Quivira not only uses biodynamic farming practices, they have also been working for over 10 years to restore the creek that runs through their property. Quivira’s solar power system provides almost all of the electricity needs for the Quivira estate. Quivira’s estate includes a garden, a chicken coop, and Honey Bee hives. Tour the winery and the gardens then sip Quivira wines. The tour ends with a special gift from Quivira – a jar of Quivira estate honey.
The final stop on Pure Luxury’s Eco Tour is Porter Creek Vineyards. Walking toward the entrance to their unassuming and charming tasting room, visitors can see and smell the wysteria growing freely and draping the doorway. Porter Creek’s commitment to organic and biodynamic practices extends to the vehicles used on their property including trucks and tractors. Porter Creek uses organic vegetable oil and biodiesel, a vegetable oil derivative. Enjoy the expansive view of the vineyards while tasting outstanding Porter Creek wines.
Pure Luxury’s Eco Tour provides the beauty of Northern California’s Wine Country while educating about what local wineries are doing to care for their wines and the environment. Pure Luxury is proud to be a Certified Green ground transportation company, and proud to offer an experience not only available just for Earth Day but also for everyday.
