Silicon Valley EcoTuesday is very excited to have moved our monthly event from Sunnyvale to Palo Alto. I personally am very excited to have taken over the Ambassador role and hope to organically grow the Palo Alto event. I know this area is full of eco-minded individuals so I hope to merge Silicon Valley's various green industries for a monthly night of networking. 

Not only do we have a great speaker for our first event, Scott Cooney, Principal of GreenBusinessOwner.com and author of Build a Green Small Business: Profitable Ways to Become an Ecopreneur but we are very excited to have Frey Vineyards, America's First Organic Winery, sponsor our opening event in Palo Alto on November 16th! 

Cooney will discuss what happens to the Progressive movement given some inevitable political stalemate in DC, top opportunities in green business and entrepreneurship, and powerful ways to affect change every day and not just on election day!

Frey Vineyard's is the first maker of certified Biodynamic Wines in the US. EcoTuesday is very excited to be part of Frey Vineyards 30th anniversary year. They are nestled on the slopes of the Redwood Valley in Mendocino County, California. Not only do they produce organic and biodynamic wine but with their 17 kilowatt solar system half of the vineyards energy comes from the sun. I was fortunate to try their wines at the Green Festival in San Francisco last weekend and must say it is worth coming to the event just to try their delicious wine. Frey's wines are all made with no added sulfites. For all those people out there that get headaches, sniffles, and other allergic reactions to the synthetic preservatives in most wines can now enjoy wine again! 

Organic grape growing resists the use of synthetic pesticides and fertilizers through implementing mechanical cultivation instead of toxic herbicides. Frey Vineyards uses natural sulfur and biological controls instead of chemical fungicides to fight powdery mildew and botrytis brunch rot. Elimination of insecticides through creating a bio-diverse farm landscape that encourages natural predators. Throughout their winery their fertility needs are generated through cover cropping and making compost.

In the fall cover crops are planted and tilled under in the spring using green manuring, a fertilization technique. A variety of grasses, legumes and mustards are used as cover crops that protect the soil from erosion, fix nitrogen into the soils and offer a habitat for many beneficial insects. The benefits of cover cropping can be seen in the health of the soil and the quality of the vines. Not only do cover crops keep the soil healthy but they are also a form of companion planting. When mustards are grown alongside grapevines they help discourage soil born nematodes that would otherwise feed on grapevine roots.

The use of compost in the vineyard is another important organic practice. To achieve sustainable soil management, Frey Vineyard's recycles all of their grape pumice after it is composted with other organic ingredients including manure, old hay, and garden waste back into the vineyard. Compost helps to maintain a healthy level of organic matter in the soil.

Long established USDA organic wine standards are under attack. A proposed amendment would allow the addition of sulfites to organic wine for the first time! Organic wine is defined in the US as "made with organic grapes and no added sulfites". The World Health Organization recognizes the preservative sulfite as a known allergen, which is why the "Contains Sulfites" warning now appears on all non-organic US and European wine labels. 

Take Action to Keep Sulfites out of Organic Wine!

I hope to see many of you on Tuesday, Nov. 16!  Click here to register!

Organic Wine Information from www.freywine.com