Salmon Safe Wines? Are you supporting them?

In the Pacific Northwest, salmon are important to not only the economy, but our ecology as well. 

Say you planted some vines on a sun-soaked slope of your property. That's great -- you'll have some lovely grapes in the years to come. But when you water those vines, what happens? Certainly, the thirsty plants will suck up some of it, but there will be runoff. Down the slope, and, very likely into a stream. During this process, silt and other gunk will be washed into the stream which reduces the ability for the salmon to thrive there, eliminating yet another "safe harbor" for the fish so to speak.

Salmon-Safe is an orginazation that is helping vineyards "protect important salmon watersheds and produce world class wine." (From http://salmonsafe.org/wine/index.cfm)

What can you do to help? If you are a grower, you can plant trees and ground cover on stream banks to control soil erosion and use natural methods to control weeds and pests. Salmon-Safe can help with that. If you are a consumer, you can look for the Salmon Safe label in your supermarket or wine shop. You can help keep our rivers safe for salmon.  Please encourage your local growers to support the mission of this important organization.

For more information about Salmon-Safe and to view a list of Salmon-Safe wines, visit their website at salmonsafe.org.

One of my Favorite Value Wine Brands - Wines of Substance

Remember the periodic table of the elements from your high school chemistry class?  Winemakers Greg Harrington of Gramercy Cellars and Jamie Brown of Waters Winery have re-imagined it as the Washington State Periodic Table of Wine.  One of my favorite brands in the country, Wines of Substance strives to highlight the unique terroirs of Washington and produce every varietal which grows in the state.  The iconic packaging and innovative website are my favorite!  The periodic table includes elemental-ish symbols for more than two dozen varietals grown in Washington (e.g. Me for Merlot, Ch for Chardonnay), which sharply translates into sleek, cool graphics for the wine labels.  The concept is to provide a bit of a tasting primer for beginning wine drinkers to start to be able to identify unique attributes of wines, by highlighting them in their purest form.  That being said, these wines are surprise hits even for the wine snobs among us.  Substance is the kind of homework that most anyone would be able to get into!


Check them out today at www.winesofsubstance.com.