Tag Archives: organic

Real Food SF

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Real Foods was my very, very, very first Health Food store in SF. The wine department was held at the time by a delightful young man called Michael, who actually stayed there for some twenty years. These were definitely the good old days for me. Incidentally, the Real Food chain company in those days was one of the few health food stores who had a license to carry wines. They were really the pioneers in the Health Food business.I’ll always remember the first time I went in to present my Domaine de La Bousquette wine to Michael. “Get me more … Continue reading →

The Origins of Our Rosé

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I will never be able to look at a rosé wine in my life again without remembering my grandfather. He was a maverick of his time and had the audacity at the ripe age of 75 to dream of bottling his own vin biologique right there on the family’s estate. That wasn’t exactly common in those days in the Languedoc in 1975-78, but it completely aligned with his career as a professor of medicine, dedicated to “First, doing no harm.” I can see him sitting around our family’s table under our iconic 100-year-old pine tree, in La Bousquette, a scene … Continue reading →

Our Friends at Nabila’s Health Food – Hayes Valley (SF)

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Nabila is a small family-owned grocery store that carries many vegan staple, organic foods and natural snacks. A very cool little store in the middle of a one of my favorite neighborhoods in San Francisco: Hayes Valley! You can find bulk lentils, miso powder, coconut water, frozen vegan entrees, frozen kefir, unsweetened organic soy milk and of course… My wines! Our relationship  started  some 15 years ago plus, with Ramiz, the original founder & owner of Nabilal’s health food store, a delightful young man from Palestine. We hit it off right away, Ramiz loved our wines and we loved his family size business  and we … Continue reading →

Tasting Wine Visually

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Those intriguing Microscopic images of our wines are art, but also symbolic or visual clues to taste. Author Sondra Barett woul say you’re looking at the spirit, personality and stylistic expression of wine. Its inner beauty. Sondra and I go way back. Sondra is a PhD biochemist and was seduced by the exquisite expressions of the grape when she was artist-in-residence at a Napa Valley winery more than 30 years ago. Yet her photographic explorations actually began while she was a medical scientist on the faculty at the University of California Medical School. Blending her passions to illuminate and investigate … Continue reading →

Michael Apstein Gives an 88 & 87 to La Marouette

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Michael Apstein, MD and wine lover, was one of the journalists selected to go to the Millesime annual wine fair. He is a columnist at WineReviewOnLine.com and the recipient of the 2008Press Trophy. Here are his ratings of the Syrah and Chardonnay from La Marouette, both of which he tasted at the Millésime Bio 2013 in France. *   Maison des Terroirs Vivants, IGP Pays d’Oc (Languedoc, France) Syrah “La Marouette” 2012 ($15, The Organic Wine Company): An incredible value, this $15 Syrah manages to combine the attractive slightly beefy and the ripe plumy components that Syrah can deliver. It’s a masterful … Continue reading →

“Organic Will Become the Norm Rather Than the Exception.”

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Hate to say I told you so but I did, 30 years ago when I took up this cause and brought the first organic wine to this country. My vision for the future, if we were to have one, had to be via organic agriculture & viticulture. Well how about that…it has been painful to be 30 years ahead of one’s time, but certainly worth it. Millésime Bio – Organic wines on a roll – LAJOURNEE-VINICOLE.COM | 01/02/2013 | EDITION N°337 “The world’s largest organic wine store, Millésime Bio, opened its doors in Montpellier on Monday for a three-day event that attracted … Continue reading →

Q & A: Sulfites, Allergy and Diabetes

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Q : Hello, I am trying to obtain as much information as I can in reference to organic wine and sulfites. I am a diabetic and I am also allergic to sulfites. I have not been able to get any sound information on the subject. I would like to know if organic wine has any of it’s own natural sulfites. It would be great to have an occasional glass of wine but I am afraid to attempt it until I can get a better definition about the sulfites. I am allergic to sulfur in medication which is how I found … Continue reading →