DeLoach Vineyards and Organic Gardening Magazine Launch Second Annual Community Gardens Award Program

SANTA ROSA, Calif., April 3, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- DeLoach Vineyards and Organic Gardening magazine have teamed up once again for the Second Annual Community Gardens Award Program. Home to its own organic and Biodynamic® garden, DeLoach believes that from garden to table, community gardens build healthy people and healthy communities, while Organic Gardening magazine empowers readers to lead simpler, healthier lives by making connections through the world of gardening.

Together DeLoach Vineyards and Organic Gardening magazine have selected fifteen community gardens across the nation ranging from California to Ohio to Maine and Florida as contenders, but voters will decide which five will share the $20,000 award. The winning gardens will then use the grants to improve the communities they serve.

"The experience of community gardening is about so much more than planting a seed and harvesting a tomato: the education, shared experience, rewards and relationships activate people and inspire change," says Jeff Tkach, Publisher, Organic Gardening. "When we can provide greater access to and resources for these wonderful places, we are empowering people to live healthier lives and bringing greater meaning to the idea of 'growth.'"

Last year, almost 60,000 votes were cast. It was an exciting finish when Magnuson Community Garden of Seattle, WA nudged out Alemany Farms in San Francisco, CA for the fifth spot in the final hours. Wine and garden enthusiasts across the country can vote once daily until August 6, 2012 and are encouraged to spread the word. The five gardens that win the most votes will be announced in the December 2012/January 2013 issue of Organic Gardening.

"As stewards of the land, our responsibility lies not only in fostering best practices within our own methods, but also in sharing the breadth of our knowledge with our communities," states Jean-Charles Boisset, proprietor of DeLoach Vineyards. He adds, "Our communities represent the fabric of who we are, where we stem from and the future of our nation, and supporting these communities is a vital endeavor."

This year's nominees are:

• Bangor Community Gardens – Bangor, ME
• Bock Community Gardens – Middleton, WI
• Ceres Community Garden – Sebastopol, CA
• Coventry Community Garden – Coventry, RI
• Five Loaves Farm – Lynden, WA
• Greenest City's HOPE Community Garden – Toronto, ON
• Grow Food Grow Hope Garden – Wilmington, OH
• Henderson Park Community Garden – Tucker, GA
• Hermitage Street Garden – Chicago, IL
• Lettuce Grow Farms & Educational Center – El Prado, NM
• Niles Community Gardens – Niles, MI
• River City Harvest's Park Place Garden – Great Falls, MT
• St. Thomas Community Garden – Sioux City, IA
• Teaching Garden at Benedictine Monastery – Manassas, VA
• The Hills at Stanley Lake Park – Arvada, CO

For information on each community garden and to vote, wine and garden enthusiasts can go to www.deloachcommunitygardens.com and watch videos created by the nominated gardens explaining how they would use the grant to impact their communities.

About DeLoach Vineyards

DeLoach Vineyards has been a pioneering producer of Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and Zinfandel in Sonoma's Russian River Valley since 1975. DeLoach seeks to produce exceptional wines that spotlight the singular personality of the Russian River Valley, with its rare and bountiful convergence of the sea, the soil and the stars. The Boisset family of Burgundy has stewarded winegrowing and winemaking at DeLoach since 2003, bringing the techniques and approaches of Burgundy to winemaking in the Russian River Valley, which they believed to be California's most expressive terroir for cultivating Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. Under Boisset, DeLoach has grown its small-lot vineyard designate wine program, become a certified organic and Biodynamic estate vineyard, and implemented traditional Burgundian winemaking techniques such as open-top wood fermentors, native yeast fermentations, and hand punch-downs. Wine & Spirits magazine named DeLoach Vineyards a Top 100 Winery for the eleventh time in the winery's history in 2011. Located at 1791 Olivet Road in Santa Rosa, the DeLoach Vineyards tasting room, picnic area and organic garden are open to the public daily from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.

About Organic Gardening (www.organicgardening.com)

Celebrating its 70th anniversary in 2012, Rodale's Organic Gardening is the leading magazine resource for an organic approach to home, food and garden. With the mission of "living lightly from the ground up," the magazine empowers readers to lead simpler, healthier lives by making positive connections with the world through gardening. Featuring fresh ideas for home-cooked meals, accessible tips, tools and tricks for gardeners of all skill levels, and gorgeous photography that inspires, Organic Gardening helps readers garden to truly live their whole lives.

Follow Organic Gardening on Twitter @OGMag and Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/OrganicGardening. Organic Gardening is also available on the iPad.

Contact: Anna Miranda
Boisset Family Estates
707.963.6939 | [email protected]

SOURCE DeLoach Vineyards