"Hardly anyone in the natural wine world is talking about environmental justice for those who pick the grapes, labor advocates say. The Guardian Vital label aims to change that."
"When Cary Quintana learned about a new initiative to promote fair treatment and safe conditions for vineyard workers, the Northern California winemaker immediately signed on.
Quintana has partnered with organic and sustainable vineyards for the dozen-plus years she’s run Cary Q Wines, where her minimalist approach to winemaking accents the distinctive features of the Sonoma County soil and climate the grapes are grown in. She’s always favored growers who treat their vineyard workers at least as well as they tend their grapevines. So she didn’t hesitate when two social justice organizations invited her to collaborate on a new wine label—Guardian Vital—that requires ethical labor practices along with chemical-free farming.
It’s the first label to showcase the people who pick the grapes, rather than the grapes that go into the wine.
Quintana thinks most people in the wine industry are so focused on producing high-quality grapes they don’t think about the welfare of the people picking them. Yet vineyard workers are confronting ever-more hazardous conditions as the planet warms."
