I was lucky enough to get to attend an amazing dinner last night, put on by Foodbuzz and Black Box Wines. The dinner was at Spruce, a restaurant I’d been wanting to try since it opened a few years ago. These are the times when I wish I was a better photographer – my little borrowed digital Canon would not have done this meal justice. Luckily, this was a blogger event, in a private room nonetheless, so you can bet there were some fabulous pictures taken that evening. Check out Beer & Nosh and Chez Us (hi, guys!) for photos and much better recaps of the night. I’ll just say this – house-made charcuterie, halibut with fennel and chanterelles, bavette steak, duck fat fries? Um, yum! I also met some lovely people, and a good time was definitely had by all.
Fill ‘er up!
Anyway, naturally (heh) my angle was taking in the green aspects of the evening, and there were many. First, Spruce buys local, fresh ingredients, uses naturally raised meats (not sure how I feel about that term, but let’s go with it), and line-caught fish. About 80% of their produce (according to their press materials) comes from a partnership with 5-acre SMIP ranch, which uses no synthetic pesticides, herbicides or fertilizers. I love that!
Since the event was sponsored by Black Box, I definitely wanted to find out about the company’s environmentally-conscious policies. I was happy to learn that both the box and the wine pouch are recyclable – you just have to separate them. Also, since the box of wine weighs much less than the equivalent in bottles, it costs much less to ship. While some of the wines come from far-off places, like New Zealand, Italy and Washington State, it will at least take less energy to get to you than the bottles would. Plus, the wine lasts a lot longer- how many times have you opened a bottle for just one glass or a recipe (what, you haven’t made my wine ice cubes?), and the rest has gone to waste? Remember: you’re not just wasting the wine (alcohol abuse!) but using more bottles as well. One box = much less packaging than 4 bottles. Though, I’d like to do a little more research on the manufacturing and recycling processes of the various materials, but that’s another story for another day. Probably one when I shouldn’t be packing instead of blogging. Oh, yes. Moving day tomorrow.
Ok. I hope this isn’t starting to sound like an ad. I feel very lucky to have had the chance to attend, and now I’ve got a box of Cabernet ready to christen my new apartment, after the big move. Wish me luck, guys.
Finally, I was realllly tempted to catch a cab after the dinner, because it was freezing, the bus (first of 2 I needed to take) wasn’t coming for 15 minutes, and, dare I say it, I was a little tipsy. Hey, four courses with wine pairings, whaddya expect? Anyway, I toughed it out and waited for the bus. I got lucky that I only had to wait 2 minutes for my second bus, and I got home with a fatter wallet and a lighter carbon footprint. I’ll drink to that!
How do you “green’ your wine? Buy local, buy organic, buy in a box?
From 
pretty green girl 