Dear Friends,
This past Wednesday was Earth Day. Brooks had so many different events that we were supposed to be a part of to celebrate. But, honestly, we celebrate Earth day every day. Surely one of the silver linings of this crisis is the reduction of our carbon footprint across the globe.
In the fall of 2018, I had been visiting my daughter at Champlain College in Burlington, Vermont. Upon leaving, I flew from Burlington to NYC. I was seated next to a woman (hi Kate!) who I conversed with some but not much. As we were getting off the plane, we traded cards. I looked at hers and realized she was the CEO of a company called 1% For The Planet. I mentioned to her that it had been on my mind to look into joining her membership. She looked at my card and said “My Pacific membership director lives in Amity, Oregon.” I soon found out that her membership director, Amanda (hugs lady!), had already booked her rehearsal dinner at the winery and was a Brooks fan. Coincidence? No, I don’t believe in those. Paths cross for a reason.
1% FTP started when two businessmen met and bonded over their shared love for the outdoors. Realizing their responsibility to protect our planet, they decided to give 1% of their sales back to the environment—whether or not they were profitable.
In 2002, Yvon Chouinard, founder of Patagonia, and Craig Mathews, founder of Blue Ribbon Flies, created 1% for the Planet and started a global movement.
“The intent of 1% for the Planet is to help fund these diverse environmental organizations so that collectively they can be a more powerful source in solving the world’s problems.”
— Yvon Chouinard in his book “Let my people go surfing”
Since January 2019, Brooks has been a member of 1% For The Planet (1% FTP). We donate 1% of our revenues to an environmental focused non profit. We try to purchase from other members of 1% FTP so our dollars are hard at work for the cause. There is a great video below and a link to the 1% FTP website. Members can be businesses or individuals. It feels good to give back. Next week, I will share who we picked as our non profit partner and why.
Around The Winery
The production team is spring cleaning and will start blending trials for the 2019 Rieslings and 2018 Single Vineyard Pinot Noirs. Heather, Director of Wine Club Happiness opened up access to our wine clubs so that everyone can take advantage of the best discounts we offer. She will be busily getting ready for the 4 and 6 bottle shipments in May. The Tasting Room team is furthering their wine education and coordinating the food orders that feed our community everyday. My days are busy planning the future and modeling what that may look like, developing new products (exciting!), doing zoom tastings and interviews upon request.
Recommended Watching:
Check out the new series Real Business of Wine https://realbizwine.com/. Polly Hammond, the brain trust behind the series also designed our website. While the topics are related to wine, they are transferable to other industries. I participated in the program about Wine Tourism.
Upcoming This Week:
Today at 2pm PST! Chef Norma and Celebrity Chef Elizabeth Falkner will be having a live Instagram Pizza cook off. All the pizzas made by Chef Norma will be donated to front line workers in the respiratory wing of the Salem Hospital.
Friend Kristi Devlin Delovitch on Facebook and tune into her It’s 5 O’Clock Somewhere series. I will be on her Tuesday live show at 2pm PST. Here is the link https://www.facebook.com/kristi.delovitch/videos/10218931945184425/
It does take a village and you are a part of ours! I will be putting together some focus groups to talk about tasting room experiences, wine clubs and new on line offerings. If you have thoughts on these topics and would like to participate, please reply to this email. Thank you!
Stay safe and healthy. Reach out if there is anything I can do: cell 831-238-4828 or [email protected]
Be well,
Janie