Archive for ‘News’

Judge Guzman, wine, poetry, and ♥ for Global Majority

Posted by robin, November 14th, 2011

I am honored to serve as a board member of Global Majority, an organization dedicated to promoting non-violent conflict resolution, education, negotiation, mediation and advocacy. At eco.love’s San Francisco office we had the pleasure of hosting a fundraiser for Global Majority with esteemed guest and Global Majority Advisory Board member Judge Juan Guzman from Chile. Judge Guzman is internationally recognized for convicting former Chilean Dictator Augusto Pinochet on human rights charges and for his continuing defense of human rights globally.

I was privileged to spend some time with Judge Guzman, a gentle, compassionate and distinguished man whose humility speaks volumes.  Being in his presence you gain a sense of awareness and perspective, that we should honor the courageous individuals like Judge Guzman for their efforts around the globe.

He spoke to us about how in some of his most trying times he recites the Rudyard Kipling poem “If.”  I want to share the first versus of the poem as he shared with us.

IF you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;

You can learn more about Judge Guzman and the attempts to bring Pinochet to justice for human rights violations in the feature-length documentary “The Judge and the General.”

I’d also like to thank those in attendance, Global Majority and it’s supporters, the eco.love team and the generous donation by Café de la Presse of amazing food for the night!

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EcoLogic Annual Benefit

Posted by andrea, November 5th, 2011

The EcoLogic Development Fund is a non-profit organization that works with communities to foster sustainable livelihoods and protect biodiversity.  EcoLogic was established in 1993 in order to conserve the planet’s diminishing diversity of life in a way that addresses the needs of local people. The organization aims to conserve unique landscapes in Central America and Mexico by putting poor, rural communities in charge of managing local natural resources.  By working with local partners they are helping communities become better environmental stewards of their land.

Their Annual Benefit took place on Thursday, November 3rd at Mass Audubon’s Habitat Sanctuary in Belmont, MA. The event honored former Chairman of EcoLogic’s Board – F. William (Bill) Green, M.D.. Francisco Tzul, a Mayan leader who works for EcoLogic was the guest speaker and the evening included an eco.love wine tasting and auction. Proceeds went towards conserving unique landscapes in Central America and Mexico and the evening was a smashing success. Cheers to EcoLogic!

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Inside the .love (sneak peek!)

Posted by robin, August 24th, 2010

Yes friends, the time is near – our wines will soon be sipped, shared and enjoyed by us all (it’s true!). Here is a little sneak peak behind the scenes of what started as a dream (pinch me!) for me and my sister Andrea. What you see is just some of the love that went into making this a reality. We labored over design and how to perfectly present our wine to the world, this was no short process and they are as beautiful as we imagined! And, since we are now armed with flip cams – beware world – there will be much more to come. Enjoy :)

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Harvest Has Started – Back To NZ!

Posted by andrea, April 1st, 2010

Harvest has started in Marlborough WoHoooooooo ! We have been told everything is looking excellent! I am super excited to go back home and being back in the vineyard with the grapes. For those of you that have not been to New Zealand yet, let us know if there is anything specific anyone wants to see while we are down there. I have persuaded my friend Dan, who has some serious hollywoodesque filmmaking skills, to come down with us and shoot harvest and crush. So lets hope for good weather, everything is golden so far, which brings me to my last installment of the Bacchus dedications for the eco.love wines harvest New Zealand 2010.

Probably the most famous of all, the above  is  by Michelangelo and is a over life – size marble sculpture of the deity. Bacchus holds in his right hand a goblet and his left hand a tiger skin, along with a bunch of grapes that are being eaten by a faun. These three things have been translated to symbolize  ”For the love of grapes”.

With this symbolism, I will end my last Bacchus entry, I think we are in his good graces:). Most of all, we can relate to this artwork. For we have a  love of grapes,  love of wine and having a really good time!

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Poor Quality Grapes = Poor Quality Wines (14 Days til Harvest)

Posted by andrea, March 25th, 2010

We are around two weeks away  until harvest in Marlborough, emotions are running high and there’s a fine line between success and failure. So Let me explain. Most people don’t realize that growing grapes for wine, is a tough endeavour.  There is extreme attention to detail that goes into growing these little berries for nearly a year. It’s waking up at dawn, battling extreme temperatures, working all day til sun set, all so the winemaker can have ridiculous quality of grapes to make insanely delicious wines.

Unfortunately harvest happens to be all dependent on a window of a few weeks in Marlborough when the weather is super temperamental and extreme fluctuations  could have disastrous affects. So yeah……everyone is on edge.

Which brings me to my #2 offering of Bacchus Artwork during the eco.love Wines Harvest 2010. This portrait by Italian Baroque master Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio (1571-1610) has humor to it as well as seriousness.  The pink faced Bacchus is half drunk with his eyes slanted, not really a convincing Greaeco-Roman God. The notable scholarly focus is of the uneatable fruit in the basket in front of him. Its suppose to represent the quality and state of the world, which I guess at the time , wasn’t that great?

Spoiled good fruit is on my mind, so this artwork has some relevance. The general formula is good grapes= good wines and if we can achieve this, then we can all enjoy ourselves and be pink faced like this Bacchus — minus the nasty rotten looking fruit.

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