Meet the father-daughter duo fighting plastic pollution with a special bottle of California rosé.
Remy Dorrance is not your average 13-year-old kid. She loves chasing bugs in the grass, surfing the Pacific, and ripping mountain bike trails with her dad, Noah. Sometimes he takes her to work with him, which is a lot cooler than it sounds since Noah is the co-founder and winemaker at Reeve.
Growing up on a vineyard near the ocean, it’s no wonder Remy fell in love with nature. In many ways, it’s the best backyard a kid can ask for. But when your backyard is polluted with plastic deposited by the wind and the tides, it introduces a big question for a kid to consider: “Why?”
But Remy wasn’t satisfied with just asking, “Why?” Instead, she asked, “What can I do?”
With her dad’s help, Remy set out to make a wine that could raise money and awareness for issues around plastic pollution in the oceans. The name? Remy Saves the Sea, of course.
The first vintage was picked in 2019. Since then, the liquid inside the bottle has seen many variations, including Vermentino, Pinot Gris, and a Grenache-Malbec-Chenin Blanc blend. This year, it’s 100% Carignane from a historic vineyard in Northern Sonoma, near the Mendocino line.
In 2022, Remy Saves the Sea partnered with 1% For the Planet, a nonprofit organization co-founded by Patagonia founder and activist Yvon Chouinard that connects for-profit businesses with an environmentally driven organization of their choosing. Through the partnership, for-profit businesses are held accountable for their environmental impact as at least 1% of the company’s revenues are donated to the partner organization.
Remy Saves the Sea’s beneficiary is 5 Gyres, a global institute that conducts research to understand the impact of plastic pollution and vet alternatives to petroleum-based plastics in order to drive change toward scientifically proven solutions.
The mission behind Remy Saves the Sea is a natural piece of the Reeve philosophy. Together with Kelly, his wife and co-founder of Reeve, Noah sees their work as a “never-ending pursuit.”
“Since our beginning, we have always sought to find ways to give back to the world around us,” says Noah. “We’ve raised almost one million dollars in less than 10 years for a variety of different things from saving restaurants, to gun violence prevention, to ocean conservation. It’s in our DNA.”
“We try to have fun with everything we do, but the Remy Saves the Sea occupies a special place for us,” says Noah. “Getting to incorporate our kids in our winery is a massively fulfilling thing.”
Remy’s efforts were formally recognized last November when Mayor Melissa Blaustein of Sausalito presented her with a proclamation honoring her contributions with issues surrounding the health of our oceans.
“It’s really fun for me to be involved in the family business and benefit a cause that I am passionate about,” says Remy. “I actually got to do a science project on ocean conservation at school at the same time me and my dad were working on this blend.”
Remy’s being modest. Noah makes sure to mention that she did the final blend by herself and that she’s learning a lot about wine. “I hope someday she can take this project on by herself.”
Us too, Noah. Keep up the good work, Remy!
Celebrate Earth Day with a bottle of Remy Saves the Sea, available via Skurnik in NY, NJ & RI.
THE WINES
- 100% Carginane
- From a historic vineyard in Northern Sonoma, near the Mendocino line
- Over 100-150 years old vines
- Small head trained vines
- This wine was fermented and aged in stainless steel
- 12.9% abv
