The circle of life or something

This is a new one on me - "upcycle."

An Oregon winery, COWHORN, is promoting not only its early releases, but recycle, upcycle, whatever programs. It's sent its first shipment of 1,000 used wine bottles to be "upcycled" into "heirloom goblets, pitchers, tumblers, vases and votives," according to a news release.

Don't ask me why they spell their name in all caps, but they do.

COWHORN is also partnering with Ashland Food Co-op to covert used corks into compostable wine packs.

On top of that, literally, "At COWHORN, even the soft metal bottle cap covering the cork gets a new life through Rogue Recycling."

And then there's talk of nature flowing in cycles, etc. But the Biodynamic winery seems to be trying. And the end products look pretty nice.

The only rub is they tout their wines as pleasing the James Beard Foundation and people in the Oregon eco-culinary scene.

"Among the new estate’s early accolades is a 90-point rating from Wine Spectator for its 2007 Viognier, now sold out. In their annual round up of most memorable wines, the San Francisco Chronicle featured COWHORN’s 2007 Marsanne Roussanne, also sold out, as one of the year’s top 20 'unexpected pleasures.'”

Please note, two sold outs mean we'll never know how good they might be. Frustrating.