For our holiday gathering, following a visit next door to the wine exhibit at SFMOMA, we focused on wineries that donate a portion of all sales to charity.   We sampled wines from a wide range of producers whose causes range from burn victims to breast cancer research to the Gulf clean up efforts.  The wineries included:

Ackerman Family Vineyards

From the beginning, the Ackermans knew that they wanted to support the Napa Valley community in a way that would be meaningful. When the decision was finally made to produce and sell their wine commercially, they also decided to donate the net proceeds from this new venture to support the community they loved. Having served on several non-profit boards in addition to many for-profit boards between them, both Lauren and Bob feel strongly that giving back to the Napa Valley non-profit neighborhood is an important part of being a good community member.

Lauren is a former Board Chair and Trustee of the Napa Valley Community Foundation, a philanthropic community "bank" of donations by individuals, families, corporations, and nonprofit organizations and governed by a board of directors who determine what the strongest needs in a community are, funding grants accordingly. All net profits from the sales of Ackerman Family Vineyards Cabernet will go to their fund at the Community Foundation. As each vintage grows in size, so will the donations to the Community Foundation.

Chatom Vineyards

Chatom Vineyards, owned by Gay Callan, has historically also been run by women. Earlier this decade, then winemaker Mari Well had extra Zinfandel in the cellar and had the idea to blend it and create a red wine made “by women, for women” and to call it “She Wines.” The idea took off from there and the first She Wine was released in July of 2004. In keeping with the “Girl Power” theme Chatom donates proceeds from the She Wine to women’s health related charities ~ donating partial proceeds from the She Red towards Heart Disease Research. Not only is today's woman spicy, sexy, smooth and sensual, she also looks out for her sisters!

Clean Coast Wines

Boutique winemaker Susie Selby of Healdsburg brings her expertise from one coast to another by launching Clean Coast – a new wine dedicated to raising money and awareness for the Gulf Coast recovery effort. Featuring the tag line “Good Wine - Good Will,” $4 from each bottle sold online will benefit the community fund of the Greater New Orleans Foundation.

“I originally fell in love with Louisiana because of the people and their enthusiasm for food, wine, music and fun,” said Selby. “Now, I have a whole new admiration for the area as its residents strive to get their lives back on track after enduring another disaster. Their determination is truly unmatched and I hope with the launch of Clean Coast wines that I can help them speed up the recovery process and repair the damaged ecosystems.”

Cleavage Creek

The Cleavage Creek look is distinctive and significant. The label of each bottle of Cleavage Creek wine features the image of an actual breast cancer survivor whose story is told on the Cleavage Creek website.  “Putting a face on this disease and telling the stories of those who are dealing with it personalizes this and hopefully inspires everyone to take on the fight,” offers Brown. 

Owner Budge Brown intends to see that Cleavage Creek makes a difference.  10% percent of gross sales is donated to cutting edge research to fight breast cancer.  That is 10% of sales before any profit is realized.  Gross, not net makes a big difference when determining the amount of money that will be contributed. To date, Cleavage Creek and Budge Brown have donated over $73,000 to breast cancer causes.

Ehlers Estate

Ehlers Estate represents the unique fusion of an outstanding winegrowing estate, environmental consciousness and international philanthropy. The historic and diverse Napa Valley vineyard of Ehlers Estate is cultivated using organic and biodynamic farming techniques to produce a small portfolio of estate-grown wines. 

At the heart of this estate is the historic stone winery built by Bernard Ehlers in 1886. As a tribute to the site’s long winemaking history, French entrepeur Jean Leducq and his wife Sylviane revived the original Ehlers Estate name beginning with the winery’s inaugural 2000 vintage Cabernet Sauvignon.

One hundred percent of the proceeds from the sale of the wines goes to support the Leducq Foundation, a highly regarded, not-for-profit foundation dedicated to funding international cardiovascular research. 

Fleming Jenkins Victories

Peggy Fleming inspired a generation with her poise, athleticism and artistry when she won the only U.S. gold medal at the 1968 Olympic Winter Games. On the 30th anniversary of her Olympic figure skating victory she was diagnosed with breast cancer, and she achieved another huge inspirational and life victory by successfully overcoming this disease.

After her recovery, Peggy’s passion for gardening extended to grape growing, and with her husband, Greg Jenkins, began Fleming Jenkins Vineyards & Winery. As a special tribute, Peggy and Greg created the Victories wine series to celebrate the personal accomplishments, large and small, that unite us, sustain us and inspire us every day.

Greater Purpose

Driven by a cause. Made for a purpose. 55% of profits give back to a greater cause. Currently, their mission is to build and sustain villages for orphaned and abandoned children- providing food, water, shelter, clothing, and education. They hope you will be inspired to get involved and share the Greater Purpose story with your family and friends, so we’ve created a series of videos that will take you with us on our journey: From Vine to Village.

Believing in the power of positive thinking. they've shared inspirational and motivational words and phrases on their wine label in the hope that this will help make the buyer's day more uplifting and inspiring.

Humanitas

Launched in 2002, Humanitas is a unique winery with a very compelling story:  make wine, sell it, and give the profits to charity. Specifically, the profits go to find solutions to three very primary issues -- hunger, affordable housing and education -- And they give to the regional chapters in the communities where the wine was sold.  

'Humanitas' is the Latin word for 'philanthropy', 'human nature', and 'character' and embraces all that is the company -- making great wines of character and donating the profits to philanthropic causes.That the profits of Humanitas will be donated to charity is a very compelling reason to embrace our wine, and for that matter, encourage others to do the same.  But they hope you return to buy Humanitas often because the wines are so darned good!

Koz Wines

Proceeds from the sale of Koz Wines, crafted by Vinum Cellars in Napa, are donated to the Starlight Children's Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to helping seriously ill children and their families cope with their pain, fear and isolation through entertainment, education and family activities.

The wines are sold through Whole Foods and the California Wine Club. "The California Wine Club prides itself on introducing its members to unique artisan wines that they may not be familiar with," said Bruce Boring, Founder of The California Wine Club. "We are thrilled to be able to share Koz Wines with our members and to help spread the word about all the great work for the Starlight Children's Foundation that Dave Koz and Koz Wines are doing."

One Hope

Sometimes people find causes, other times causes find people. Such is the case with the founders of ONEHOPE. ONEHOPE was started by eight friends who turned what started as a personal mission to help out a friend with her fight against cancer into a thriving business which is founded on a very basic, but compelling principle: giving back is good business. The eight founders started the company working out of their living rooms and selling wine out of the back of their trunks. Since the inception of the company in June 2007 the company has grown from 0 to well over 20,000 cases sold.  50% of the profits are donated primarily to charities in support of our troops.

Red Rover

Produced by Stevenot Winery in Murphys just after being sold to the Munari family from Paso Robles. The Munaris then sold the Stevenot brand and Wine Club list to the Olivetti family.  Situated in what was the Stevenot Winery, the new Albeno Munari winery, named after grandpa who came to the US of A in 1916, still produces the Red Rover label.  But only the proceeds from the 2007 Pinot Grigio release are being donated to the Calaveras Humane Society.

Rescue Red

Proprietor Dan D'Angelo, a 20-year veteran firefighter and still on the job in the Napa Valley, answers your call for wines designed to put the fire out on grilled and smoked meats, or anything cooked on an open flame.  The proceeds from Rescue Red go to the Alisa Ann Ruch Burn Foundation with the main office in Southern California

Stein Family

A portion of the sale of their wine is donated to educational organizations to provide college scholarships for the students of the Napa Valley so that the children of wine workers may have choices their parents did not. "We believe in doing what's right--for our family, for your family, and for the families of unseen workers who were instrumental in the creation of this wine. The Stein family thanks seeks an improved future for all of our children. Stein Family Wines: Changing the wine business one person, one bottle, one glass at a time... because fair is fair."

Tumbleweed

This cabernet is 100% estate grown from our small vineyard located in the Tulocay/Coombsville region of Napa Valley. In addition to their vineyard operation, several years ago the owners founded a non-profit Boy’s Ranch program for at risk youngsters who need a 2nd chance in life. Boys come for the summer and work a real cattle ranch, assigned their own horse.Virtually all the sales proceeds from this cabernet go directly to support the Tumbleweed Boy’s Ranch program.

Here are the results: