Who doesn’t love a good acronym? S.O.R.B.E.T stands for Sonoma Organic Regenerative Biodynamic Educational Tasting, and it’s put on by a group of Sonoma winemakers who want to showcase the fact that roughly 10 percent of the organic vineyards in California can be found in Sonoma County.
And from those vineyards, deliciousness springs.
According to organizer Morgan Twain-Peterson of Bedrock Win Co., “Sonoma Valley has a long history of organic farming going back to the 1970s thanks to the influence of folks like Phil Coturri and Bob Cannard, but the movement has gained momentum in the last decade or so with estates like Hanzell moving towards regenerative practices, wineries like Gundluch Bundschu, Donum, and ourselves becoming 3 of the first 24 estates in the world to be certified Regenerative Organic.”
The idea for the tasting began when Twain-Peterson, Katie Bundschu, and Sam Coturri (all former schoolmates) found themselves complaining to each other about what they see as greenwashing in the industry—things like pictures of sheep in vineyards that have also clearly been sprayed with herbicide. They began to talk about how many people they knew who were doing the real work to sequester carbon, capture runoff, prevent erosion, improve ecology, and support communities of people.
Realizing that there were a substantial number of likeminded producers in Sonoma, they made some calls to float the idea of a tasting focused on this kind of wine production, and the response was overwhelmingly positive.
So on Sunday, August 17th, a whole bunch of excellent producers are getting together to showcase their wines to anyone who wants to come have a taste. The list of producers pouring includes: Abbot’s Passage, Bedrock Wine Co, Benziger Family Winery, Brown Estate, Bucklin, Canihan Family Winery, Dane Cellars, Donum Estate, Fest Wine Co., Fresh Wine Co, Gloria Ferrer, Gundlach Bundschu, Hamel, Hanzell, Hill of Tara Winery, Kamen Estate Wines, Kivelstadt Cellars, Korbin Kameron, Laurel Glen Vineyard, Las Vivas, Lasseter Family Winery, Marioni Wine, Once & Future Wine, Pangloss Cellars, Ram’s Gate Winery, Stone Edge Farm Estate Vineyards & Winery, Tidings, Winery Sixteen600
This should be a delicious way to spend an afternoon.
Sonoma Organic Regenerative Biodynamic Educational Tasting
Sunday, August 17th – 1:00 PM to 4:00 PM
Fort Mason Center, Gallery 308
2 Marina Boulevard
San Francisco, CA 94123 (map)
Tickets to the event will run you $73.16, and should be purchased in advance online. My advice? Get a good night’s sleep, grab a big lunch ahead of time, and spit so you can try a lot of stuff and still keep your head.
