Environmental Advocate of the Year
Craig Camp
Troon Vineyard | Grants Pass, OR
In 2016, Craig Camp left his job in the Napa Valley and moved north to Oregon’s Applegate Valley, a quiet area near the California border. Under the Regenerative Organic Alliance’s mantra “farm like the world depends on it,” Camp cares for cider apples, hay fields, honey bees, sheep, chickens, dogs, and grape vines. Camp and the Troon Vineyard team are reviving old, overworked vineyards to make an example out of what responsible agriculture can produce, work that has earned Troon the title of the world’s only Demeter Biodynamic and Regenerative Organic Certified Gold winery. Camp’s deep commitment to fighting climate change extends to advocacy—he’s a member of the board of directors at the Biodynamic Demeter Alliance.
"Located in the Applegate Valley of Southern Oregon, Troon Vineyard has a long history dating back to 1972, yet recent years have seen it become one of the most forward-thinking wineries in the U.S., as it is one of just two to have become Regenerative Organic Certified through the Regenerative Organic Alliance. The recent certification follows a conversion to biodynamic farming that has revitalized the estate’s soils while also providing a template for other wineries both locally and around the world to reduce their environmental footprint."
There are almost twelve thousand wineries in the United States. We are humbled to have been selected from among so many passionate, dedicated winegrowers to be one of five wineries nominated as American Winery of the Year by The Wine Enthusiast Magazine’s annual Wine Star Awards. We are honored to be mentioned alongside exceptional stewards of the land Eyrie Vineyards and Wild Arc Farm.
Our work on this farm is important, but our true mission is to inspire other farms to adopt our regenerative agriculture and Biodynamic farming philosophies. We are proud of what we have accomplished on our one hundred acres, but our dream is to convert millions of acres and farmers to this vision of the future of agriculture. "Farm like the world depends on it" is the slogan of the Regenerative Organic Alliance. It does, and we do.
In addition to this exciting news, The Wine Enthusiast selected Oregon's Rogue Valley, which includes our own Applegate Valley, as a nominee for Wine Region of the Year. The Rogue Valley is among the most exciting of the world’s emerging fine wine regions. Blessed with a diverse range of varieties, mesoclimates, and soil types, the Rogue Valley is uniquely prepared to face the challenges of climate change, while continuing to produce classically styled fine wines.
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