Organic Wine, Anyone?

We have organic fruits, vegetables, skin care products, hair care and everything in between, so why not organic wines? Congrats to HALL Wines, the Sonoma County, California vineyard and winery, for receiving an Organic Certification from the California Certified Organic Farmers (CCOF), one of the nation’s oldest and largest organic certification and trade associations in North America. This comes on the heels of HALL St. Helena’s Gold LEED® Certification by the U.S. Green Building Council in July 2009.

HALL Wines uses no chemical fertilizers, synthetic pesticides or herbicides. Instead, it creates a habitat for natural predators, and plants cover crops to help build healthy matter in the soil. The HALL Team also spends a huge amount of time in the vineyards, monitoring water stress, vine health, vine balance and grape maturity to guarantee that the grapes are nurtured to reach their highest potential.

And if you think it’s easy to earn an organic farming certification process – think again. It can take up to three years! Each of HALL’s six estates located throughout Napa and Alexander Valleys follow the strict guidelines set forth by the CCOF. To date in 2010, 355 acres owned by HALL’s have been certified organic. The last of the estate vineyards, known as the Hardester Ranch with 145 planted acres, will receive its organic certification on August 18, 2010.

Kudos to Kathryn and Craig Hall, owners of HALL Wines, for making it their long-term mission to become a leader in earth-friendly California winegrowing. HALL St. Helena is the first Gold LEED® Certified Winery in the State of California, and maintains one acre of solar panels on its roof and uses 100% recycled water throughout its processes. All of HALL estate vineyards are enrolled in the Napa Green program, the wine industry’s most comprehensive “best practices” in land-use and wine production focusing on building environmentally sound, sustainable practices.

The CCOF, a nonprofit organization, was founded in 1973 and is one of the nation’s oldest and largest third-party organic certifying agencies. CCOF certifies more than 2,160 organic operations in 34 states and three foreign countries and serves over 350 supporting members - consumers, suppliers, businesses and individuals - interested in supporting its work.

For more on HALL wines, visit http://www.hallwines.com.