22 Apr Please The Palate Pick of the Week: Lodi Rules™ for Sustainable Winegrowing

This month, the month of April, is California Wines: Down to Earth Month and today is Earth Day! It is a time to celebrate our earth and to remind us of how we need to take care of it. It is a perfect time to explore earth-friendly wines from California made with sustainable winegrowing and winemaking practices. One region that has committed themselves to the environment is Lodi and that is why it is the Please The Palate “pick of the week.” Named the 2015 Wine Region of the Year by Wine Enthusiast Magazine, Lodi is located between the San Francisco Bay and the Sierra Nevada Mountains. Known as a  predominately red wine-growing region, it is the self-proclaimed Zinfandel Capital of the World and home to heritage vineyards that have been planted since before Prohibition. Lodi is a leader in sustainable wine-growing, having created Lodi Rules™ for Sustainable Winegrowing in 2005. It was California’s first 3rd party-certified sustainable winegrowing certification program and is the only certification whose practices are accredited by Protected Harvest. Lodi Rules promotes over 100 sustainability practices, called “Standards”. The Lodi Rules Standards include business management, human resources management, ecosystem management, soil management, water management and pest management. There are more than 20,000 acres “Certified Green” in the Lodi appellation and approximately 25 wineries produce wines with the Lodi Rules for Sustainable Winegrowing seal on their bottles. What this means is that every time you drink a wine from Lodi that bears the seal for Lodi Rules, you are drinking a wine that supports an entire agricultural community that cares about the environment. And because we care about our environment, Lodi Rules is the Please The Palate “pick of the week.”