Raven's Restaurant - Vegan Cuisine

This morning the Today Show featured organic wines and spotlighted Ceago’s Cabernet Sauvignon, one of the wines on our list. Ceago cabernet is made with grapes from Mendocino County’s Redwood Valley which are grown using certified biodynamic methods that go beyond standard organic methods. Ceago Vinegarden is Jim Fetzer’s creation.

Our wine list features three Ceago wines as well as another 93 wines from wineries from around the world made with grapes produced by organic, biodynamic, or sustainable methods. We hold in high esteem vintners such as Jim Fetzer who emphasize the terroir – the “place” – the land and weather that characterize the grapes grown there. Growers who use pesticides and chemical fertilizers mitigate their vineyards’ terroir by homogenizing the difference between places. The chemicals kill the soil’s micro-fauna and –flora forcing the vine to be dependent on chemical fertilizers. Biodynamic and sustainable methods essentially seek to enhance the life of the soil or minimally not to interfere with the soil’s indigenous life.

At the Ravens’ at the Stanford Inn by the Sea we are concerned with terrior and sustainable agriculture. We grow using sustainable methods and are certified organic by the USDA. We support sustainable practice by purchasing organic and, if coffee or tea, products that are proven to be fairly traded.

Wine Spectator has bestowed an Award of Excellence to our list which contains 96 organic or sustainably produced wines. To balance the list, our wine buyer, Amy Mullally, has carefully selected and additional 35 wines including seven different cabernets by our friend, Mark Carter who created Carter Cellars.

Our main, focus, however are the excellent Mendocino County organic and sustainable wines including Jim Fetzer's and other members of his family: John who owns Saracina Vineyards, Patti Fetzer who produces Pattiana wines, and Dan who created Jeriko Vineyards. In addition, two other other notable wineries are the oldest organic winery in the United States, Lolonis of Redwood Valley and Yorkville Cellars in the Yorkville Highlands.