For this week’s theme I thought I’d go with something very green and environmentally friendly…a bit of a longer read this week, but I wanted to feature this whole group of unique wines together and they all have such a cool story!

The former owner of Lifford Wine & Spirits, Steven Campbell, has long been a dedicated environmentalist. Not just talking the talk, but also walking the walk. Aside from having been an early importer of sustainable, organic, and biodynamic wine decades ago, long before it was cool, he was making sure our company was green too. We’ve been Bullfrog Energy powered and certified Carbon Neutral since 2005 and we’ve planted over 90’000 trees through Tree Canada. Steven even partnered with a top winery back in 2008 to create a carbon neutral, sustainably produced wine, in PET recyclable plastic bottles. Needless to say the world wasn’t ready for that yet and the brand failed within a year. But that wasn’t going to be the end of it for Steven, he has been slowly perfecting that idea ever since. We work in a carbon heavy, shipping intensive industry, and Steven's philosophy has been to try mitigate our carbon footprint as much as possible and do our part towards fighting climate change. So this project has been a passion project in aligning his environmental philosophy with his business. In October of 2019 all his efforts were recognized when York University awarded him an honorary doctorate for his life’s work as an environmentalist and wine industry leader.

The #1 lesson he learned is that above all else, the wine has to be really good: people will happy support the green initiative so long as the wine is delicious! Fast forward to 2019 and Steven has partnered with a handful of top winemakers from countries all over the world who want to participate in the first entirely carbon neutral global wine brand. He's called it 'Campbell Kind Wines' and partnered with some of the world’s very best winemakers who produce either sustainable, organic, or biodynamic wine and he labels them accordingly in a “Kindness Category” on each back label (a cute touch!). And finally each wine is certified Carbon Neutral by Carbon Zero a carbon calculation and offset firm that has become an authority in the field. So every wine is accounted for from production to delivery as carbon neutral, as well as sustainable, organic or biodynamic. Now more importantly, let’s talk about the wine.Campbell Kind Wines will feature other top producers in the future, but the first vintage featured these super star winemakers:

Steve Smith Sauvignon Blanc from New Zealand:
He was the country’s first Master of Wine and he shot to international fame as the winemaker for Villa Maria back in the day and then the super famous Craggy Range winery. He now owns his own winery called Smith & Sheth along with Pyramid Valley. Steve was instrumental with his advice given to Steven in starting Campbell Kind Wine and offered to produce his Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc. This Sauvy (as they call it) is classic classic Marlborough: gooseberries, grapefruit, mowed lawn, intense minerality, and crisp acidity. And it comes from some of the oldest vines in Marlborough over 30 years old. The perfect Sauv Blanc to pair with Netflix and hopefully the back yard when the sun starts peeking out again.
https://campbellkindwines.com/partners/steve-smith/ $22.99 x12

The Speri family Rosso Veronese from Italy:
Speri is one of the most famous in the Valpolicella area. Not a big corporate winery that you would recognize from the LCBO, but one of the oldest and most important in the area. They’ve been making wine commercially for 7 generations but the family has been growing grapes in the area for hundreds of years. They were one of the pioneering first 5 families to produce Amarone in the 1950s and they were the first winery to be entirely organic in Valpolicella. They are still one of the only organic wineries today (I think there are just 3 total now with 2 other very small vineyards included). This Rosso Veronese is the younger vines that will eventually be old enough to go into their Valpolicella Classico. This makes this lighter, a bit fruitier and easier drinking wine. Still nuanced with dried spices and fresh acidity this wine is the perfect pairing with your homemade pasta sauce and pizzas we’ve all been making during the pandemic. An easy drinking and versatile everyday treat.
https://campbellkindwines.com/partners/fratelli-speri/ $21.99 x12

Telmo Rodriguez Tinto Rosso from Spain:
Anyone who knows me knows that I LOVE Telmo Rodriguez. One of my favourite winemakers in the world. I’m sure I’ll do a blog post about about him and his wines sometime soon with all this time on my hands. But long story short, Telmo was the first winemaker to be pushing biodynamics in Spain back in the 1990s. Long before it was cool, back when it was looked at as witchcraft. And as a vocal proponent for biodynamics and outspoken critic of conventional viticulture, he became a bit of a black sheep in the Spanish wine industry. He sought out old abandoned vineyards growing wild now with with 50-150 year old bush vines on hillsides, river valleys and mountains. A terroir hunter of sorts, looking to revive the authentic traditional Spanish wine culture. Check out the link to his website below to see what I mean. Stunning photography of his vineyards and arid landscapes these wines come from. He’s built his reputation in opposition to the super oaky modern Riojas that Spain became internationally famous for. Telmo and his winery are based in Rioja, but he makes wine from regions all over Spain from old vines that he revived and fermented naturally with the wild yeast in each region. This ’Tinto Rosso' is a big wine from the Cosecha region of Ribera del Duero. This region has been most famous for roses and historically only made traditional wines for local consumption, which is no surprise that Telmo was interested...But don’t ask him what varieties are in it, this is a field blend with probably 30 different varieties mixed together in the vineyard, but he could say it’s predominantly Tempranillo. It’s big and ripe, but more savoury and spicy than jammy. Great for charcuterie boards, cheese, and tapas.
https://campbellkindwines.com/partners/telmo-rodriguez/ $22.99 x12
http://www.telmorodriguez.com/

Bruce Jack Syrah from South Africa:
Bruce Jack made a fortune when he sold a little winery he started called Flagstone to Constellation in the 1990s. Part of the deal was the he would stay on as head winemaker of Constellation Brands and teach other winemakers globally. Bruce was always into organics and sustainability, so this large corporate gig didn’t end up suiting him. The massive co-op factory wineries that bought grapes from farmers at rock bottom prices didn’t appeal to him either. But through that job he got to know all the grape growers in the Western Cape who had all the coolest most dynamic vineyards and terroirs, crazy oceanside or mountain vineyards producing outstanding fruit. But their grapes were kind of going to waste getting mixed in with large volume big brand wine. So when he left to start his own Bruce Jack wines, he reached out to all those farmers and set up exclusive long-term contracts for their grapes at top prices. A way better deal for the farmers to have guaranteed contracts for years to come at high prices, but also a great deal for Bruce with grapes coming to him from the best vineyards in places that don’t need any chemicals effectively making them all organic. This is currently the best value in the CKW portfolio at just $16.99 a bottle, and it delivers all the big dark fruit, meaty spicy, peppery flavours you expect out of great Syrah. Very much geared to roasts, stews and BBQs, but also smooth enough to sip on its own at Wine O’Clock or while cooking dinner.
https://campbellkindwines.com/partners/bruce-jack/ $16.99 x12

Andrew Mitchell Shiraz from Australia:
The Mitchell family have been pioneering winemakers in Australia’s Clare Valley for 4 generations now. Clare Valley is not as famous as Maclaren Vale or the Barossa Valley for Shiraz, but personally I like it better. It’s still southern Australia, so it’s hot. But situated at some elevation it is not as hot as regions like Barossa. As a cooler climate region it’s becomes most famous for Rieslings, but their Cabernet Sauvignon and Shirazes are outstanding too. Dry farming organically, without irrigation, using biodynamic principles, this is still big and ripe, but a bit more muscular and austere than the super high alcohol, very jammy style that became famous in the 90’s from Barossa. As complex as this wine is, I think it’s best enjoyed with burgers, steaks, and backyards. This Shiraz is actually the exact same single vineyard wine that Andrew Mitchell sells as his ‘Peppertree Vineyard” Shiraz. He just loved Steven’s carbon neutral wine idea so much that he didn’t want to give him anything less than his best for this project, and the same 6 year old 2014 vintage! So you can buy this wine from us under the official Mitchell ‘Peppertree’ Shiraz for $30, or the exact same Campbell Kind Wine version for $22…a no brainer if you ask me!
https://campbellkindwines.com/partners/andrew-mitchell/ $21.99 x12

Kautz Family Cabernet from California:
Joe Kautz was featured on the cover of Life Magazine in the early 1970’s as The Future of Agriculture in America. This was referring to his sustainability practices long before anyone else was seriously considering that with all the yield promises fertilizer and chemical companies were making. The Kautz family started the famous Ironstone Vineyards in California’s Sierra Foothills. But their primary business has always been grape-growing, eventually becoming one of the largest grape-growing families in California, all done for the most part organically and sustainably before that was even an official term. They made most of their income selling grapes to other wineries and saving the best fruit for themselves at Ironstone. This is why Ironstone has been able to be such an amazing value for so many years: decades of excellent viticultural practices plus very little overhead thanks to selling grapes. There is little to no residual sugar in this wine, so it’s not actually sweet, but you wouldn’t know it from the nose. Such a big, ripe, jammy profile with a smooth velvety palate of dark fruit, vanilla, and baking spice. Perfect for BBQs on cool spring evenings or a smooth glass of red with TV after dinner.
https://campbellkindwines.com/partners/kautz-family/ $21.99 x12

Let me know if any of these sound interesting to you or if you have any questions. We could have them in Ottawa for delivery by Friday!

Stay safe,
Andrew Rastapkevicius