Supporting Breast Cancer Awareness with Wine
October is the 25th anniversary of National Breast Cancer Awareness Month—open a bottle and support the cause
Posted: October 15, 2009
There are few people who haven’t been touched by breast cancer in some way. In honor of National Breast Cancer Awareness Month, many wineries are making contributions to this worthy cause.
• J. Lohr Vineyards will fund 500 mammograms for women in need through its partnership with the National Breast Cancer Foundation. Lohr will donate $2 from every bottle sold of the 2005 J. Lohr Carol’s Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon to fund mammograms for women who would otherwise be unable to afford them. Carol’s vineyard is located in St. Helena and is named after Lohr’s wife, Carol Waldorf Lohr, who died in 2008 due to complications from breast cancer. The family and employees decided to designate the 2005 vintage a commemorative release to honor Carol Lohr’s legacy. $62,000 will provide mammograms for 500 women in need, to be identified through the National Breast Cancer Foundation.
• The Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board, which regulates Pennsylvania’s alcohol-beverage industry, is teaming up with Beringer Vineyards and the Pennsylvania Breast Cancer Coalition during the month of October. Beringer will contribute $1 for each case of Beringer White Zin or White Merlot sold in Pennsylvania’s wine and spirits stores, up to $10,000, to the coalition. Proceeds help the coalition organize educational programs and a support system for Pennsylvanians who have been diagnosed with breast cancer.
• Over the past five years, Five Rivers Winery, through its “Save a Goddess” campaign, has helped raise more than $250,000 to support women’s breast and ovarian cancer organizations. During the month of October, $1 per bottle sold of Five Rivers will be donated to various breast-cancer support organizations. Five Rivers’ “Goddess of the Year” for 2009 is Wendi Duval, who cared for her family and worked full-time while undergoing a double mastectomy, reconstructive surgery, and four months of chemotherapy, and who managed to found a breast cancer support group in her spare time.
• One of the longest-running breast cancer awareness wine promotions is run by Sutter Home. Between now and Dec. 31, Sutter Home will donate $1 to breast cancer-related charities for every capsule from a Sutter Home wine mailed to its office in Texas.
• Terry Wheatley, the marketer who helped start Sutter Home’s pink program, now operates her own wine company, Canopy Management, whose portfolio includes the Purple Cowboy line of wines. She also founded the Tough Enough to Wear Pink program, which donates $1 of every case of Purple Cowboy sold to the Breast Cancer Research Foundation.
• Cleavage Creek was purchased by California farmer Budge Brown after he lost his wife of 48 years to breast cancer. Ten percent of Cleavage Creek’s gross wine sales go to breast cancer research, and a breast cancer survivor is featured on each label. Since its first release in October 2007, Cleavage Creek has contributed more than $55,000 to breast cancer research.
• During the months of September and October, Fat Bastard wines will donate 25 cents for every bottle sold in both restaurants and retail locations (up to $75,000) to several breast cancer foundations, including the Christina S. Walsh Foundation, which provides financial support for breast cancer patients who are uninsured, or medications and tests not covered by insurance. Fat Bastard, made in France, sources its grapes from the Languedoc-Roussillon region.
• On Oct. 1, Domaine Chandon held its fourth-annual Pink Party to support breast cancer research at Napa’s Queen of the Valley Hospital. Six-hundred revelers, attired in pink, drinking pink sparkling wine, munching on pink-hued appetizers such as beet panna cotta and beef tartare and house-made charcuterie, danced under the stars until midnight. For those who missed the fund-raiser, a Pink Party starter kit, featuring two bottles of Chandon Rosé, two bottles of Blanc de Noirs, a selection of pink cocktail mixes and a pink ribbon pin for the hostess, can be ordered online. In addition, for the entire month of October, $1 from every bottle of rosé sold (the winery sells four varieties) will go to Queen of the Valley. Last year, between party proceeds and rosé sales, Domaine Chandon raised $10,000 for the cause.
• Riedel has created a “Pink CrescendO” limited-edition set of four pink “O” Chardonnay/Viognier glasses ($70), each a different delicate shade of pink, specifically to benefit Living Beyond Breast Cancer (LBBC), a non-profit organization dedicated to empowering all women affected by breast cancer to focus on quality of life and longevity. In addition to the CrescendO, Riedel will continue to offer its Pink Vinum Rosé set ($59), introduced in 2007. Fifteen percent of the sale of each set will be donated to LBBC.
