While I recently attended the Miami SEED Food and Wine Festival I discovered one of the vendors present was St. Francis Winery and Vineyard out of Sonoma. The festival features plant based foods, and wine makers using sustainable methods as well as no animal derivatives during their wine making process.
St. Francis was founded in 1971 and began with twenty-two acres of Chardonnay and sixty acres of Merlot. They are a certified Sustainable winery, and they have an extensive list of practices they put in place to work in harmony with the natural surroundings, and “consistently produce luscious, elegant, fruit driven wines that best interpret the richness and distinct varietal characteristics of Sonoma’s unique, diverse terroir.”
I was able to sample four of their offerings, and while I enjoyed all of them and felt that they do indeed fall in line with the winery’s above stated mission statement, I really fell for their Chardonnay! It was rich and creamy, with well balanced oak, and the fruit shone through nicely. When I asked about if further, the nice ladies who were pouring samples were happy to answer my questions and I found that they ferment on the lees, which I tend to look for in white wines. I find the depth and richness it imparts to be very delicious.
If you are interested in trying some different wines and want to support wineries using green practices, I would recommend St. Francis.
The Grape Geeks 