DeLoach Vineyards Announces Winners of its Community Gardens Campaign

Five gardens chosen by their supporters will receive awards to grow and improve their community gardens

Russian River Valley, CA –  After a successful spring and summer campaign, DeLoach Vineyards is proud to announce the winners of its Community Garden Campaign in partnership with Organic Gardening Magazine.  Over the past four months, 15 community gardens across the country from California to Florida participated in the online campaign to win a coveted total award of $20,000 ($4,000 per garden) to improve the communities they serve.  Wine and garden enthusiasts in communities across the country showed their support with more than 70,000 site visits to www.deloachcommunitygardens.com, where they watched videos produced by the gardens and voted for the garden of their choice.

The following 2011 DeLoach Community Garden Award Winners will each be awarded $4,000 each and will be featured in the October/November 2011 issue of Organic Gardening:

Center for Growing People, Dallas

Long Beach Organic Community Garden, Long Beach

Magnuson Community Garden, Seattle

Ocean View Farms, Los Angeles

Three Brothers Garden, Chicago

As an additional retail component to support the campaign, bottles of DeLoach wine were adorned with neckers that included a QR code that allowed consumers to instantly link to the contest microsite through via smart phones.

DeLoach Vineyard’s estate vineyard in the beautiful Russian River Valley is a Demeter-certified Biodynamic® property.  In harmony with organic and Bioydynamic principles the DeLoach estate includes an exquisite Biodynamic garden that not only nourishes the staff at the winery, but also provides the necessary natural remedies to optimize the health and fertility of its Biodynamic vineyards.  The Community Garden Campaign is a part of DeLoach Vineyard’s commitment to a healthy, sustainable lifestyle from garden to table that includes the appreciation of wine, food and community and to support the role of community gardens in promoting good living. Equally as important, the campaign is part of an effort to help educate a new generation to better the communities in which they live—something DeLoach has been passionate about cultivating since the inception of the winery.

About DeLoach Vineyards

DeLoach Vineyards has been a pioneering producer of Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and Zinfandel in Sonoma’s Russian River Valley since 1975. DeLoach seeks to produce exceptional wines that spotlight the singular personality of the Russian River Valley, with its rare and bountiful convergence of the sea, the soil and the stars. The Boisset family of Burgundy purchased DeLoach in 2003, bringing the techniques and approaches of Burgundy to its winemaking in the Russian River Valley, which they believed to be California’s most expressive terroir for cultivating Pinot Noir and Chardonnay.  Under Boisset, DeLoach has grown its small-lot vineyard designate wine program, converted to organic and Biodynamic farming practices, and implemented traditional Burgundian winemaking techniques such as open-top wood fermentors, native yeast fermentations, and hand punch-downs.  Wine & Spirits magazine named DeLoach Vineyards a Top 100 Winery for the tenth time in the winery’s history in 2009.  Located at 1791 Olivet Road in Santa Rosa, the DeLoach Vineyards tasting room, picnic area and organic garden are open to the public daily from 10:00 am to 5:00 p.m.

For more information, visit www.deloachvineyards.com or contact Emily Aschbrenner of Charles Communications Associates at 415.701.9463 or press@charlescomm.com

About Organic Gardening Magazine

For 70 years, Rodale’s Organic Gardening, the leading magazine resource for living a healthier, more environmentally conscious lifestyle, has been empowering its readers with the most trusted, eco-friendly news and information.  With the mission to “live lightly from the ground up,” the brand’s editorial agenda sets an accessible and easy-to-embrace course toward the goal of living a healthier, more environmentally sustainable lifestyle, delivering the safest and most natural approach to health, home, food and garden. Organic Gardening's Twitter handle is @OGMag and Organic Gardening can be found on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/OrganicGardening and it's also available on the iPad. For more information, contact Erin Miller and Organic Gardening at 212.573.0378 or erin.miller@rodale.com.