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Jesse Ziff Cool
Pioneering sustainable agriculture and cuisine since 1975, Chef Jesse Ziff Cool is a steadfast advocate of farm-to-table through her catering and restaurants — Flea St. Café, JZ Cool Eatery & Wine Bar, Cool Café, and CoolEatz Catering. Author of seven cookbooks, most recently Simply Organic, Ms. Cool is also a blogger, educator, and consultant for eco-conscious food service, waste management, and social and corporate responsibility. She is also a keynote speaker and panelist at industry symposia and recipient of leadership awards.
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Traci Des Jardins
Traci Des Jardins, James Beard Award-winning chef, was raised on a farm in California's San Joaquin Valley. As a farmer's daughter, she is committed to using locally grown ingredients and incorporating sustainable practices in her restaurants and at home. Ms. Des Jardins opened Jardinière in San Francisco in 1998, followed by Mijita Cocina Mexicana. She serves as managing chef for Acme Chophouse. Her newest restaurant, located in the Ritz-Carlton Highlands, Lake Tahoe, is set to open later this year.
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Loretta Keller
Loretta Keller is chef and partner (with Charles Phan) of the academy café and the Moss Room at the California Academy of Sciences. One of San Francisco's preeminent female chefs, Ms. Keller started her career at Jeremiah Towers' revolutionary Stars before opening Bizou in 1993. In 2005, she transformed Bizou into COCO5OO, one of San Francisco's favorite spots and a San Francisco Chronicle Top 100 restaurant. COCO5OO specializes in high quality, small production ingredients that yield big flavor.
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Emily Luchetti
Emily Luchetti is the executive pastry chef at Farallon and Waterbar restaurants in San Francisco. Previously she was the pastry chef at Stars Restaurant. Ms. Luchetti has written five dessert cookbooks and was the co-host for the PBS television show, The Holiday Table. In 1994, she won the James Beard Foundation Pastry Chef of the Year award.
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Nora Pouillon
Nora Pouillon is a pioneer and champion of organic, environmentally conscious cuisine. She opened Restaurant Nora in 1979 and was immediately recognized for creating healthy, delicious organic dishes. In 1999, Restaurant Nora became the nation's first certified organic restaurant. Ms. Pouillon is the author of Cooking with Nora, a seasonal menu cookbook, which was a finalist for the Julia Child Cookbook award. She is a director of several organizations, including the Amazon Conservation Team, the Environmental Film Festival, Fresh Farm Markets, Earth Day Network, and Wholesome Wave.
What is Biodynamic® Farming?
Biodynamic farming practices include organic certification that synthetic pesticides and fertilizers are not used, a biodiversity that sets aside 10% of the total land, on-farm fertility and pest control, rigorous processing standards that emphasize minimal product manipulation, and whole farm certification. The highest paradigm of sustainable farming, it offers one of the smallest carbon footprints of any agricultural method.
Demeter® USA is the nonprofit American chapter of Demeter International, the world's only certifier of Biodynamic® farms, processors, and products. Wines for dinner are from members of the Demeter Biodynamic Trade Association.
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Benziger Family Winery — Green commitment "It's in our Nature™"
Nurturing the earth is a way of life for the Benziger family, their employees, suppliers, and growers. A leader in environmental conservation, Benziger Family Winery holds the Bay Area Green Business and the Sonoma County Green Business certifications, as well as Sunset magazine’s Green Winery award for 2005.
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Bonny Doon
Bonny Doon Vineyard, founded in 1983, produces wines reflective of terroir whether on a regional macro- or a single-vineyard micro-level. Since the adaptation of Biodynamic vineyard practices in 2003, Bonny Doon wines evidence a deeper sense of place, more complex varietal character, and a noticeable note of minerality. Bonny Doon is a moderate 35,000-case winery producing select ultra-premium wines.
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Cooper Mountain
In the 1990s, Cooper Mountain Vineyards (CMV) began a quest for sustainability from earth to air. CMV obtained organic/Biodynamic winery certifications in 1999 and is slated to become carbon neutral. CMV is committed to crafting premium wines while respecting the soils and climate from which the grapes originate.
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Mendocino Farms
Magnanimus Wine Group has an enduring and transparent commitment to sustainability as exemplified in our farming, winemaking, and business practices and relationships. In addition to our sustainable, certified-organic, or Demeter-certified Biodynamic wines, we aspire to carbon neutrality, zero waste, responsible trade, and environmental leadership. We will proactively lead our company in ethical ways that increasingly benefit society, the economy, and the environment.
