Jeff Cichocki
Jeff Cichocki is one of Bonterra’s founding winemaker. Introduced in 1993 as one of the first organically farmed wines in the US, Bonterra's acclaimed varietal wines are exclusively made from 100% certified organic California vineyards. In 2016, the vineyard was named American Winery of the Year by Wine Enthusiast, the first-ever awarded to a vintner dedicated to organic farming.
Jeff’s passion has always been toward small family wineries that craft fine wines with an eye towards being good stewards to the environment. He began his winemaking career in the cellar of Mill Creek Winery in Healdsburg, moving quickly to Cellar Master at Matanzas Creek Winery in Bennett Valley. He moved on to Cakebread Cellars in Napa and B.R. Cohn in Sonoma Valley before taking on winemaking duties at Mendocino’s Jeriko Estate Winery in Hopland, a winery, not far from Bonterra’s McNab Ranch, that produces a variety of certified organic wines.
3 words to describe Nature?
Balance. Timeless. Dynamic
3 things Nature taught you?
Patience
Humility
Beauty
3 most treasured Nature spots?
My “home” Zinfandel vineyard behind my house, next to the Russian River in Mendocino County.
The Northern California coast
The desert, including the incredible Joshua Tree National Park, where I headed on a recent trip.
When you look at the ocean, it makes you feel...?
Tiny – relative to the vastness of the ocean
When you see a forest, it makes you feel...?
Peaceful
When you see a volcano, it makes you feel…?
In awe. It’s so primordial – I was lucky enough to fly over Hawaii’s active volcano.
When you see a sunrise or sunset, it makes you feel...?
Opportunity, with sunrise. Sunset brings closure to the day. They’re bookends, offering us a sense of timeliness or organization somehow – our universal clock.
When you hear thunder, it makes you feel...?
Excited, I love thunder. As a kid growing up in Ohio, we had lots of summertime thunderstorms - they make me feel nostalgic.
When you hear the wind howling, it makes you feel...?
It makes me wonder if my tree limbs are going to stay put! As a winemaker, I’m a natural weather follower. Wind means change is coming.
Are you an Ocean, Mountain, Forest, or Desert person?
An avid skier, I love the desert and grew up sailing in Southern California. I’m equally drawn to the desert, mountains, and ocean – all three.
On a scale of 1 to 10, how important is Nature to your well-being?
10. It’s my livelihood, it’s my passion. Every day I’m reminded that the health of our planet and farming are key. Really, I think anyone involved in the wine industry has a tremendous connection to nature and farming. As a winemaker and viticulturist, one of the main attractions of this industry is its intrinsic connection to the natural world.
Share with us a childhood nature memory?
Growing up in Anaheim in Southern California, there was a lack of natural phenomena, apart from incredible family trips to remote mountain areas in the winter. I aspired to be a part of something natural, in a far greater capacity, later in life. This drive led me to Northern California, where I’m much closer to the natural environment. Living in wine country, we are inherently tied to nature and keenly aware of our interdependence day in and day out, and from season to season.
Bryan Welch
Bryan Welch is the Chief Executive Officer of Mindful Society Media, publisher of Mindful Magazine, and CEO at the Foundation for a Mindful Society. He is a veteran media executive, writer, rancher and entrepreneur with unique expertise in businesses that improve the world. He’s the former CEO of Ogden Publications (Mother Earth News, Utne Reader), B The Change Media (B Magazine), and Foster Care Technologies.
Bryan has served on the boards of the Magazine Publishers Association, the Social Venture Network, Bioneers and several other nonprofits. He also has served on corporate boards of directors and advisory boards of companies involved in natural foods, ecommerce and the media. He was Niche Media’s 2014 “Niche Rock Star of the Year” is a member of Mequoda Group’s Digital Media Hall of Fame and was honored with the B Corporations’ 2014 Hal Taussig lifetime-achievement award for “using business as a force for good.”
He holds a master’s degree from Harvard University where he studied media policy and media management at the Kennedy School of Government and Harvard Business School.
Bryan’s award-winning book, Beautiful & Abundant: Building the World We Want, appeared in 2011.
He and his wife, Carolyn, raise organic, grass-fed cattle, sheep and goats on their farm near Lawrence, Kansas.
3 words to describe Nature?
Infinite. Spacious. Energetic
3 things Nature taught you?
That I am very small
That I am part of something infinitely large
That there are beauty and abundance everywhere, and beauty is important.
3 most treasured Nature spots?
Any place where I am sufficiently aware. X3!
When you look at the ocean, it makes you feel…?
Filled with a vast energy
When you see a forest, it makes you feel…?
Contemplative. Alert.
When you see a volcano, it makes you feel…?
Stimulated
When you see a sunrise or sunset, it makes you feel…?
Present
When you hear thunder, it makes you feel…?
Filled with awe
When you hear the wind howling, it makes you feel…?
Filled with awe
Are you an Ocean, Mountain, Forest, or Desert person?
All of those!! See answers above about my favorite spots.
On a scale of 1 to 10, how important is Nature to your well-being?
10
Share with us a childhood nature memory?
Following my herd of dairy goats, watching them eat all manner of desert things - mesquite beans, bunchgrass, creosote sprouts - then bringing them in at the end of the day for milking.