Red Wine, White Wine...Green Wine?

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Full bodied, richly textured, with a carbon-neutral finish -- Rodney Strong winery set out to reduce its energy footprint and its impact on the environment.

When Rodney Strong Wine Estates announced last month that it had gone "carbon neutral," it became only the second winery in the nation and one of a handful in the world to lay claim to such green ground.

But consumers may one day see the wine aisle brimming with bottles making similar carbon claims as wineries strive to show shoppers their products aren't contributing to the destruction of the planet.

"It's going to be increasingly important for consumers to know that the wines they choose are participating in the green revolution that our planet is going to have to go through to survive," said Robert Nicholson, principal of Healdsburg wine consulting firm International Wine Associates.

The California wine industry, long at the forefront of the sustainable agriculture movement, is struggling to answer a host of new questions about its impact on the environment. Today wineries are as apt to be asked about their carbon footprints as they are about the scores their wines have garnered from critics.

Article continues: http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20091108/BUSINESS/911081051/1350?Title=Green-wines-in-your-future-

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