Wine has long been a tool for philanthropy. Perhaps most famously, the Hospices de Beaune in Burgundy has held an annual wine auction since 1859 to raise money to support the local hospital. Napa Valley Vintners host a number of events and auctions each year to raise funds that aid local charities and wine industry workers.
May 1 is the beginning of Mental Health Awareness Month, and two West Coast producers are bookending the month by using their wines and vineyards to raise money and create conversations about mental health and wellness issues.
Today, May Day, Chase Renton of L’Angolo Estate in Oregon is releasing a limited-production Willamette Valley pinot noir called Resilience from his family’s organically farmed estate vineyard in the Dundee Hills AVA and donating 100% of the proceeds to the Kevin Love Fund. Love, a five-time NBA All-Star, currently with the Utah Jazz, founded the nonprofit fund with the goal of using the power of education, research and sharing stories to change how the world thinks about mental wellness.
A bottle of Resilience Pinot Noir that is being sold to raise funds for mental illness awareness.Aubrie LeGault/Courtesy photo
Then on the final day of May, Sunday, May 31, Bob and Barb Zorich, the owners of Alma Rosa Winery and Vineyards, will host the seventh iteration of their “Peace of Mind: 10,000 Steps in the Right Direction” fundraising walk to benefit two mental health organizations, One Mind and Santa Barbara’s Mental Wellness Center.
Both endeavors are examples of wineries utilizing their resources to reach out to a larger community beyond their usual customer base to increase awareness of the opportunities available for those in need of mental health assistance.
For Renton, the founder of the 25-acre L’Angolo Winery, the mission is personal. “Mental health struggles are far more common than we acknowledge, yet they remain difficult to talk about,” says Renton. “My journey with anxiety and depression has been more challenging than my battle with cancer. Resilience (the wine) is about creating space for those conversations and raising meaningful funds for organizations doing the work every day.”
Renton became aware of wine while growing up in the Bay Area as his family had a small vineyard in St. Helena. But the wine bug bit hard when he was a student in Italy. After studying at the Apicius International School of Hospitality in Florence, Italy, he learned the art of winemaking by working harvests with exceptional producers. Before coming to Oregon to work with acclaimed winemaker Isabelle Meunier, he served stints in Burgundy with Mark Haisma and Pierre Naigeon, and at Kosta Browne Winery in Sonoma.
In 2012, he founded L’Angolo, building a stylish winery and tasting room on the property, fulfilling a dream. But in 2017, life took a turn when Renton was diagnosed with cancer. Following surgery and chemotherapy, he entered remission.
Wanting to give back, he began hosting charity events for Portland’s Children’s Cancer Association (CCA) bringing friends and supporters together through special bottlings of wine to benefit families facing pediatric cancer. Through his association with the CCA Renton became friends, and eventually business partners with NBA players Channing Frye and Kevin Love, who shared his affinity for wine. In 2020, the trio formed Chosen Family Wines, which Frye has poured here in Aspen at the Food & Wine Classic.
But following the 2023 harvest, Renton hit a wall. “I was just burned out and began to have anxiety and depression issues. It was one of the hardest journeys I have ever been on including cancer,” he says. Working with the Southern California based The Mental Health Collective, he began the healing process with an eye toward increasing awareness of mental health issues.
“I want to use the one thing I know, how to make wine, to make a difference in someone’s life,” he says. Hence this bottling and dedication of the 2024 vintage of the wine he has dubbed Resilience.
Today, Renton is releasing 200 cases of Resilience to the public through the L’Angolo website (angoloestate.com/product/2024-resilience-pinot-noir) and in the winery tasting room at $38 a bottle. The label on the bottle is inspired by the Japanese art of kintsugi in which broken pieces of pottery are restored using threads of gold, an apt metaphor for the process of recovery. He hopes to raise $25-$30,000 in this inaugural release. “This is just the beginning,” Renton notes with a resolve that reflects his own resilience.
Alma Rosa, one of the leading producers of pinot noir, chardonnay and Rhône style wines in the Sta. Rita Hills AVA of Santa Barbara, began raising awareness about mental health and wellness issues in 2020 when the winery first welcomed walkers to the property. Since then, the “Peace of Mind: 10,000 Steps in the Right Direction” walk has raised over $1.2 million dollars for contributions to One Mind, a mental health focused non-profit founded by Napa Valley winemakers, the Staglin Family and Santa Barbara’s Mental Wellness Center.
This year, Alma Rosa owners Bob and Barb Zorich will be matching the first $50,000 raised in donations for each organization, for a total of $100,000. The Zorich’s support of the walk is a part of their ongoing efforts to provide funding for mental health research nationally and mental health care services in Santa Barbara.
Walkers at the Alma Rose Winery participate in the “Peace of Mind” walk.Courtesy photo
Also new this year is a kick-off event the night before the walk that honors the 80 years of the Mental Wellness Center, which was founded in Santa Barbara in 1947. One Shining Night will take place on May 30. More information can be found at mentalwellnesscenter.org/mwc-events/one-shining-night-2026.
The Peace of Mind walk raises funds for One Mind and the Mental Awareness in Santa Barbara.Alma Rosa Winery/Courtesy photo
The “Peace of Mind: 10,000 Steps in the Right Direction” fundraiser provides participants the enviable opportunity to walk amongst the Alma Rosa vineyards for approximately 4.5 miles, or 10,000 steps, on the 628-acre estate. And just by participating, walkers help support mental health awareness.
Registration to participate in the walk, at $70 per person, is now open and will run through Friday, May 29. To sign up, donate or start a fundraising campaign for the upcoming walk, visit give.mentalwellnesscenter.org/event/peace-of-mind-walk-2026/e761055 for more information.
All proceeds from the event, including 100% of the registration fee, will benefit both the Mental Wellness Center of Santa Barbara and One Mind.