Announcing the 1MW Solar Vineyard at King Estate Winery!
King Estate is teaming up with SolarCity, a national leader in solar power, as well as Lane Electric Co-op, and Advanced Energy Systems to install the largest solar power system at a winery in the Pacific Northwest. Construction on the 973.84 kilowatt (kW) solar system began this month.
Five years in the making, this is a very exciting time for the winery, the culmination of a lot of hard work between us and our partners in this project. This installation is a collaboration between King Estate and Advanced Energy Systems, which developed the project; SolarCity, which provided financing and integration support; and Lane Electric as the utility partner. The system’s 4,144 solar panels on about 4 acres of land should eliminate more than 38 million pounds of carbon dioxide over the next 25 years. According to estimates provided by the Environmental Protection Agency, this amount is equivalent to the annual greenhouse gas emissions from 3,381 passenger cars or 1.9 million gallons of gasoline. The King Estate solar power system is large enough to offset the annual power usage of approximately 100 residential homes.
King Estate Caters the 8th Annual FOOD for Lane County Empty Bowls Dinner & Auction
This year, King Estate had the pleasure of catering the 8th Annual FOOD for Lane County Empty Bowls Dinner & Auction which took place Saturday evening, October 1, in the FOOD for Lane County warehouse. Storage docks that normally hold boxes of food were transformed into a harvest fair complete with shops replete with colorful awnings and stocked with auction items for all to see and bid on. A live auction was conducted in between dinner courses in the dining area, where guests had the chance to win trips to Hawaii and Mexico, Oregon sunstone jewelry, season passes to the Bach Festival, and lots of other exciting packages. Watch the video below that played before the meal to get a closer look at the 5 course menu King Estate prepared and meet some of the farmers that supplied ingredients.
Win a One Year Supply of Wild Salmon & 12 Months of the KE Tower Club!
With 1,033 acres, King Estate is home to the world’s largest contiguous organic vineyard. Our organic certification was granted by Oregon Tilth, one of the strictest certifying agencies in the country. We have also been inspected and certified by Salmon-Safe, which recognizes that our farming inputs and practices have no negative impact on salmon and other aquatic life. This is of great importance here at King Estate because the natural springs that begin on our property flow to the Siuslaw river, and some are key tributaries.
To increase awareness of this fish-friendly certification we have partnered with the non-profit Salmon-Safe organization to bring you this exciting contest. All you have to do is pledge to sip Salmon-Safe wine and choose wild instead of farmed fish. You’ll be entered to win a year long membership in the King Estate Tower Club and a year’s supply of wild Bristol Bay salmon delivered right to your door.
Thanks to Your Support, The King Estate Restaurant Is Here to Stay!
This year King Estate faced a surprising challenge to our restaurant’s operation. Many of you know first-hand that our restaurant program is built on a firm dedication to support local sustainable agriculture, and it is just one of a great many rising businesses in Oregon’s food and wine industry that promote values like organic farming, fair wages, and fostering a vibrant local economy. In many ways the misguided appeal of our restaurant permit was aimed at senselessly undercutting the rising food and wine industry in Oregon.
With your very, very important support, which came in many forms: petition signatures, letters to legislators, blog comments and more, we undertook a major initiative at the Oregon legislature to protect ourselves and like businesses across this great state. As a result, we were not only able to protect our restaurant but we changed the law for the benefit of all wineries, and even paved the way for a few others in the state to establish their own full service restaurants. It was a profound success that began with a collective effort to speak up for common sense, for the future, and for responsible job creation.
King Estate Makes the List of Oregon’s 100 Best Green Companies
Each year Oregon Business compiles a list of, the 100 Best Green Companies to Work for in Oregon. This year we are proud to make the list! The list recognizes Oregon companies that approach their daily work with green values. As a leader in Organic viticulture we are very proud to be recognized for our practices, and at the same time understand that there is much more we can do. We are committed to continually analyzing, evaluating, and improving our business practices to become even more environmentally friendly.
VIDEO: Support the Restaurant at King Estate & Local Farmers!
Sign our petition and join our efforts to protect the restaurant at King Estate and the local farmers that we support, or click here to learn more about the issue.
VIDEO: King Estate Sponsors FOOD for Lane County’s 2011 Chefs’ Night Out Benefit
FOOD for Lane County’s annual Chefs’ Night Out fundraiser took place at the Hult Center in downtown Eugene on April 5, 2011. King Estate Winery has been the Title Sponsor of the event for the last three years.
The best restaurants, wineries, and breweries in Eugene donated their time and products to create a memorable evening full of delicious food and drink. All money earned from ticket sales to the event went directly to FOOD for Lane County.
King Estate Wine Country 5K Run
Join us at King Estate on Saturday, April 23rd, one week before the Eugene Marathon, for a scenic 5K run through the rolling hills of our certified organic vineyards. We have partnered with Eugene Marathon to ensure a quality event. Registration is free for Tower Club members and runners registered for any 2011 Eugene Marathon Event.
Course Map
Click to Enlarge
Helping Oregon Environmental Council Protect Children from Toxics
In September 2010, King Estate made a matching pledge to Oregon Environmental Council in an effort to raise money to support their work protecting Oregonian’s from environmental toxics. Our $10,000 challenge helped OEC raise an additional $20,000 in contributions.
These combined donations make up $30,000 that will help fund OEC’s efforts to ban BPA from children’s products and fund other initiatives. We at King Estate hope it might help the critical efforts to raise awareness of toxic chemicals in our environment, and inspire others to take action.
Click here to learn how you can support OEC.
The following interview is taken from Oregon Environmental Council’s community profiles. You can view it on OEC’s website at this link.
It’s Your Oregon: Ed King
“ ‘It’s Your Oregon’ means ‘It’s Your Responsibility,’” says Ed King, CEO and founder of King Estate Winery. Ed believes that every Oregonian has a responsibility to be a steward of Oregon’s environment.
“There have been people who have come before us who have protected our quality of life here, and there are people who will come after us,” says Ed. “Oregon belongs to each and every one of us, and we have a responsibility to protect the ecology and the environment to the best of our abilities.”