Fetzer Wine Garden Earns Gold at Chelsea; Royal Horticultural Society Awards Top Honors For Gardener Kate Frey.

LONDON -- The Fetzer Wine Garden created by Fetzer Valley Oaks gardener Kate Frey joined a small list of elite show gardens in earning a gold medal from the Royal Horticultural Society at the Chelsea Flower Show, considered the most influential gardening exhibition worldwide. Other winners included Laurent-Perrier Ltd. and His Late Highness Shaikh Zayed bin Sultan Al-Nahyan.

The Fetzer garden is patterned after organic gardens at Fetzer's Valley Oaks Homeplace in Hopland, Mendocino County, in California's beautiful North Coast, about two hours north of San Francisco. At Valley Oaks, visitors combine wine education with a view of sustainable and organic agriculture.

"Our gardens have always inspired our winemakers, and the lessons we learn each season in the gardens contribute to sustainable viticulture practices that help Fetzer create not just award-winning gardens, but award-winning wines," said Kathy Pomilia, who oversees the attractions at Valley Oaks, including an Inn, organic gardens and vineyards, a marketplace featuring natural and organic products and a tasting room featuring Fetzer and Bonterra wines.

Just two years ago at this same show, Kate Frey produced a garden honoring Bonterra Vineyards, and was awarded a Silver Gilt medal, the first American winery to be so honored at Chelsea. For this year's effort, the garden focused on recycled and farm-grown materials with a central viewing tower crafted by Mendocino artisans and shipped overseas. To view the garden, visit the web at http://www.rhs.org.uk/chelsea/2005/exhibitors/show_gardens/fetzer.asp.

The viewing tower provides the focal point of the garden, which includes a wetland area, wildflower meadow, and a vegetable patch. With a natural theme, the wildflower meadow is stocked with mostly British varieties. Gardener Frey visited the UK several months ago to consult with local nurseries and select plants which were grown for her on site. Warm climate crops such as grape vines, olive trees, and barley have found their way into the garden, as can be seen around Fetzer Vineyards in Northern California.

The wetland area consists of a pond and bog plants such as marsh marigold, creeping Jenny, greater spearwort, and many more. The boundary is a woven willow fence softened with the planting of climbing plants such as honeysuckle, clematis, and climbing roses. The willow fences are a familiar sight at both Valley Oaks and the McNab Ranch in Mendocino, where Golden Willows are grown and harvested each year to be used for fencing, and for tying vines to trellises. The garden also features a vegetable plot where carrots, beets, chard, leeks, and cauliflower grow.

Garden designer Kate Frey said she hopes the Fetzer Wine Garden design will inspire British gardeners to encourage wildlife in their gardens and to use locally adapted plants and cover crops to feed the soil and provide better habitat for beneficial insects and birds.

The Chelsea Flower Show is considered the world's greatest flower show. It is held annually each May and runs this year from May 24 - 28, 2005. More than 200,000 people will attend the event. To learn more, visit http://www.rhs.org.uk/chelsea/2005.

To learn more about visiting Fetzer Valley Oaks, and about Fetzer Valley Oaks wines, visit the web at http://www.Fetzer.com.

Note to Editors: Kate Frey will remain in the UK until early June, but may be reached via email at [e-mail].