Sustainable Sips

 Six wines that take the environment into account—and into your glass. —Noa Nichol

CedarCreek Estate Winery  2022 Pinot Noir Rosé: This Okanagan winery works in concert with the land to build a healthy ecosystem, full of animals and plants, to naturally combat disease or pests. This rosé boasts wild strawberry and grapefruit on the nose, complemented on the palate by white flowers and a raspberry fruit character. A bone-dry wine, but the fruit brings a lovely sweetness that fleshes it out. 

Rodney Strong 2019 Chalk Hill Chardonnay: This vineyard is committed to crafting premium wines and delivering a vision for sustainability in Sonoma County. It was the first winery in the area to offset its carbon footprint, lowering its carbon impact to zero. In this particular drink, lemon pie and custard aromas mix with exotic quince and layers of creamy oak. Bright green apple and a citrusy lemon kick balance out the smooth oak tones.

Wakefield Estate Shiraz 2018: This Australian winery favours the use of the most innovative techniques available to improve energy efficiency, water conservation and packaging. Its goal: to achieve a 50 per cent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2030, well below the reduction target set out in the Paris Agreement. Its shiraz has a seductive, lifted aroma characterized by plum, blackcurrant and dark cherry fruits along with subtle chocolate and a touch of oak-derived spice.

Red Barn Silent Partner 2021 Cabarnet Franc: From this creator or minimal-intervention wines, a cab franc is the result of precision, viticulture and unconventional winemaking. The combination of organic farming and time to age in concrete gives this wine a purity of fruit and complexity of flavour that will turn heads. 

Road 13 John Oliver Selection 2020 Malbec: Fruit for this exceptional wine is farmed organically, hand-harvested and hand-sorted, and undergoes a slow fermentation for 30 days on skins before being gently pressed. Aged for 18 months in French oak, expect big, fruit-forward aromas of raspberry and goji berry layered with smooth tannins.

 El Burro Santa Julia 2020 Malbec: This natural Argentinian wine, made with the minimum possible intervention of man, includes organic grapes, natural yeasts and zero sulfites; it is bottled unfiltered. Deep red with violet hues, it boasts aromas of fresh fruit, with a hint of plum and cherries.