Green your bubbly: From eco-champers to a cork chair competition

by greenlagirl

I'm serious about starting off the new year greenly -- which is why I saved not just one, but two guides to eco-friendly bubblies: Grist's guide to distinctive, affordable, eco-friendly sparkling wines and Low Impact Living's guide to 9 domestic sparkling wines.

I printed those out -- on one-side-used paper, of course -- and headed to Co-opportunity, my neighborhood co-op grocer, then to Whole Foods. Sadly, neither eco-conscious store had any of the bubblies in stock! I did, however, find a Vida Organica sparkling chardonnay (right) at Whole Foods and decided to give it a try. The bottle cost $12.99, but only $12.94 for me because I got my 5 cent refund for taking my own bag --

Theoretically, one should save the bubbly for New Year's Eve -- but for the sake of the blog that'd help everyone else prep for the last day of 2008, I went ahead and popped the cork (hihi!).

This sparkling chardonnay tasted like -- chardonnay with bubbles. I recommend this bottle from Vida Organica if 1) you always thought chardonnay might taste even better carbonated, 2) you generally find champagne and sparkling wine too dry for your taste, or 2) you're not picky. Otherwise, I recommend that you look harder for the sparklers on the Grist or Low Impact Living lists.

Post-drinking, the bottle went in the recycling bin, but the cork, foil and wire cage remained, ready for the DWR Champagne Chair Contest! Yep, those seeking to make their New Year's Eve celebrations zero waste can upcycle their champers detritus into a lilliputian chair. The lucky winner gets a $1,330 eco-friendly Morgans Chair in polished aluminum; two other winners will be awarded less costly but still pricy chairs (Anyone else wonder why DWR stands for Design WITHIN Reach? Anyway...).

You do have to get that chair entry in before Friday, Jan. 9 -- which means you'll want to get to work right away when you wake up on New Year's Day. To help you out, Treehugger's put together a list of the Top Green Hangover Remedies. In my experience, the only cure that actually works reasonably quickly is the hair of the dog, though most might consider that more a delay tactic than an actual cure. Still, if you can delay the hangover for 9 days....

Top photo by Siel
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BlogHer Contributing Editor Siel sometimes drinks while blogging at greenLAgirl.com.