This episode features a conversation with Amy Wong, an attorney and the Policy & Program advocate with the Oregon Organic Coalition. As the former Executive Director for the Oregon Organic Coalition, Amy was instrumental to making the historic, first Oregon Organic Winegrowers Conference happen in 2025, and she is once again active in facilitating the 2nd Organic Winegrowers Conference happen this April 20 & 21, 2026. This is the only wine conference in Oregon, and one of the few in the world, that is founded on the farming rather than just the wine. New Zealand has a great organic wine conference as well, and a few others, but consider that the vast majority of wine tastings and conferences focus on regional or stylistic elements of wine, rather than how the grapes were farmed. It’s probably no surprise to anyone that as the host of the Beyond Organic Wine podcast I think that’s it’s really important to support this kind of ecological-farming-first approach to wine. And I hope to see you at this year’s Oregon Organic Winegrowers Conference.

But this conversation is much bigger than just wine. Wine is just one part of Amy’s important work, and she gives us insight and practical advice about how we can navigate the local, state, and national organic issues and policies, and how we can become farmer advocates and agents of change toward a more organic food and wine system. This is an information and resource rich conversation that is timely, urgent, and provides proactive ways of addressing some of our biggest needs.

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit beyondorganicwine.substack.com/subscribe