This wine Wednesday is dedicated to Fetzer Wine’s Eagle Peak Merlot. At a whopping $10 a bottle, this is a great wine for a party, a Wednesday or any day of the week. It’s immensely affordable and tasty as well. The alcohol is 13.5% and it pairs well with basically any dish from mushrooms to pizza. I liked it jammy fruit notes. It reminded me so much of berries that my son’s book called Jamberry by Bruce Degen came to mind, “Mountains and fountains rain down on me. Buried in berries what a jam jamboree!”

What I also like about this wine is the whole culture behind it. Fetzer is a B Corp and believes very strongly in sustainable practices across all areas from the vineyards to its workers, a rarity. I like the B Corp organization a lot and learned about them years ago as part of another working life. I believe only 11 wineries are B Corp certified, worldwide. According to a press release I found, “Fetzer Vineyards received the Momentum for Change award from the UN for its leadership in modeling sustainable practices for the wine industry. The recognition came two years after Fetzer Vineyards presented on climate-smart winegrowing at COP21, the Paris Climate Talks, the only U.S. winery to do so.”

I learned about Fetzer wines from Wine Studio, a program organized by Tina Morey. I was sent samples of the wines to try. Fetzer is celebrating it’s 50th year in 2018 and doing a month-long program with #Winestudio. Barney Fetzer started the winery in Mendocino County, California. They make wines under a variety of labels including Bonterra Organic Vineyards, Adorada, Anthony’s Hill, Jekel Vineyards, Sanctuary Wines and 1000 Stories, a Bourbon barrel-aged Zinfandel.  Fetzer is part of Chilean multinational, Viña Concha y Toro.