January Wine Club: On the Cusp
A visit to Ridge Vineyards a decade ago. Squint and check out the solar panels in the background!
Welcome to January (2025!) and our final wine club month with UnWined!
For the last year and a half, we’ve had the pleasure of bringing you new wines, wines you wouldn’t otherwise have tried, and wines that are made by those who care about the planet and people, too. It’s been a wonderful first project for me as the founder of GoodWine, and your support and the collaboration with the UnWined Team has meant a ton!
Last month we brought you wines that have received a sustainability award called the Green Emblem from the company founded by wine critic Robert Parker. In our process of hunting for wines for the December club, we found more candidates than we could fit in one month, so we’re bringing you the rest in January!
In case you didn’t catch last month’s write up, wine critic Robert Parker in the late 70s wagered that scores would tell you all you need to know about whether or not a wine was worth buying. These scores range from 50 - 100 and are still in use today.
With the recently established Green Emblem award, though, the weight of his brand is thrown at something much more significant—the planet and whether or not a wine is made with sustainability in mind.
The three Green Emblem wines this month are stellar. The first is from an OG producer of climate-friendly wine in Cali (see picture at right), the second is a fresh Chianti, and the third is a simply delicious wine from the shadow of the Alps in Südtirol—or Alto Adige—in Italy.
We’d love to hear what you think as we wrap up our first project! Anything you want to see from GoodWine in future projects? Shoot me a note or message me on Instagram at @getgoodwine! I’d love to chat. And for past months’ write-ups, just click here.
The Wines
Our first wine this month is a Rhône-inspired white blend of Grenache Blanc and Picpoul from Ridge Vineyards in California. Ridge is one of the first vineyards I visited when I realized I was more into wine than the average bear. I met someone working in the tasting room who walked me through all of Ridge’s sustainability-related moves—from solar to using building materials to make the building energy-efficient. All of Ridge’s wines are great (especially if you like Zinfandel!), and our thinking here was to share a white wine with you that you may not have had, even if you’re already a Ridge fan. Cheers!
— Ridge Vineyards 2022 Grenache Blanc
Our second wine comes to us from Chianti and from producer Cantina Salcheto. Salcheto is a fantastic example of the new wave of sustainability and overall corporate and environmental responsibility. Specifically, Salcheto was one of the founders of the 3E Equalitas certification, now widely used throughout Italy. And when you go to the Salcheto site, you’ll see how they’ve cut emissions. They were even the first winery in the world to certify the carbon footprint of a bottle of wine in 2010! And the wine itself is great: This Chianti is fresh and delightful, and it will compliment a pasta and sauce wonderfully. Enjoy!
— Salcheto Chianti 2023
Our last wine is straight up delish. It’s from northern Italy in the region where mountains and castles make for pretty incredible scenery. It’s made from Lagrein, which is an indigenous grape variety grown in this region and in the Trentino region of Italy. It’s not easy to find, and I’ve been wanting to showcase one as part of the club.
Tiefenbrunner has a cool sustainability story. Since 1910, it has supplied power for itself and nearby towns using a hydroelectric power plant constructed by Johann Tiefenbrunner. In 2024, they added solar to the mix as well. You can read about Tiefenbrunner’s many other sustainability initiatives here. Prost!