The Wine of Human Kindness

"Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness." Thomas Jefferson's status as a connoisseur of wine and food leaves no doubt in our minds that enjoyment of them would be part of his expanded definition of our inalienable rights.

More than two centuries after he wrote the Declaration of Independence, enjoying wine and food still grounds us in the present and immerses us in sensual and social pleasure like no other aspect of our daily lives. But some experts, such as psychologist Martin Seligman, author of the best-selling "Authentic Happiness" (Free Press, 2004), contend that happiness -- more than simply living a pleasant and good life -- involves living a "meaningful" one in service to something larger than ourselves.

Many wine enthusiasts believe wine can play a central role in that.

The motto of Grace Family Vineyards, which produces Napa's original cult cabernet, is "Wine as a catalyst for healing our planet." Over the years, its wines have fetched as much as $100,000 a bottle at charity auctions, which the winery reports have helped allow it to raise more than $25 million for causes such as the Make-A-Wish Foundation, Habitat for Humanity and other global programs addressing such issues as juvenile cancer, homelessness and abuse.

Since battling depression and alcoholism, former stockbroker Dick Grace, the winery's owner, has abstained from alcohol for nearly two decades even as his vineyards produced it. "What we try to do is use wine to close that painful gap between those who have too much and those who have too little," he says. A Buddhist, Grace sees that gap as a root cause of many of society's ills: "Until we address that as a larger issue, we will have a society that is less peaceful and harmonious than it could be."

Grace says a sommelier recently told him about selling two bottles of his wine the previous night -- at $800 each. "When I admitted I was ambivalent, he looked at me like I was crazy," Grace recalls with a laugh. "So I explained, 'I am about to go to an area of the world where for what you got for one bottle of my wine, I could feed, clothe, house and educate three children for one year.' "

Other wineries Grace cites for their generosity include Staglin, which has raised $32 million for research through its annual Music Festival for Mental Health; Lail; Spottswoode; and Mondavi. "But, really, there are too many to mention," he insists. "Anyone would be hard-pressed to name any industry as generous as the wine industry."

Nadine Brown, a former social worker who found a new calling as a sommelier at Charlie Palmer Steak, would agree. When Brown's mother ran My Sister's Place, a shelter for battered women, Brown asked her wine contacts if they'd help with a fundraiser. "I was floored by their generosity," she remembers.

Brown has since served as beverage chair of Share Our Strength's annual Taste of the Nation event. "Wine graciously connects the needy with people who are able to give," she observes. A six-course dinner Brown oversaw at the steakhouse last month, raising $140,000 to fight childhood hunger, featured wine donated from across the country, including 2006 Dr. Konstantin Frank Dry Riesling (New York), 2006 Linden Vineyards Avenius Sauvignon Blanc (Virginia), 2005 Far Niente Chardonnay (California), 2001 Apex Cellars Merlot (Washington), 2004 EIEIO Pinot Noir (Oregon) and 2003 Oakville Ranch Cabernet Sauvignon (California).

Wine is indeed an industry and, given the exposure charitable events provide, it can be impossible to discern promoting wines from supporting the cause. Regardless, there may not be a need to choose between the two: We might never have discovered the elegant Bordeaux-style 2000 and 2003 Pine Ridge Stags Leap District Cabernet Sauvignon ($75) were it not for sampling them last month at a Citymeals-on-Wheels event featuring a dozen different wineries -- including Bedell, Taittinger and Wolffer -- that raised more than $1 million to feed the homebound elderly.

Dick Grace insists that whatever one's reason for giving initially, "once you are bitten by the bug of compassion, the larger part of your energy is giving for the purpose of helping." At the time we spoke, Grace mentioned that he was traveling to Tibet to meet with the Dalai Lama today to discuss collaborating on another benefit, as they had in 2001 and 2005, honoring some of the world's "Unsung Heroes of Compassion" at a California luncheon. He sounded happy.

Andrew Dornenburg and Karen Page, award-winning authors of "What to Drink With What You Eat," can be reached through their Web site,http://www.becomingachef.com, or atfood@washpost.com.