Organic Vineyard Management
We have always focused on the sustainable management of our vineyard and slowly made steps toward organic stewardship. Our first year of treating our vineyard organically was in 2018. We haven't looked back since. The practices that we utilize to ensure the sustainable health of our vines include:
- We maintain a permanent cover crop of mixed grass, clover and dandelion mix between our vineyard rows. The mixture of grass encourages a diversity of microflora and fauna and prevents soil erosion. The dandelions provide food for the pollinators and break up soil compaction. And the clover helps fix nitrogen into the soil and provides more nutrition to pollinators.
- We constructed permaculture swales to slow surface water runoff to allow for deeper moisture penetration into our soil.
- We installed drainage into areas where water tended to pool and cause mildew outbreaks. We no longer have pooling water in our fields.
- We augmented our spray program with Nurture Growth Bio-Organic Fertilizer, made from composted vegetable waste. When we started using it, all the harmful insects flew away and allowed us to stop spraying insecticides. Our spray program consists entirely of Nurture Growth, Bordeaux mixture (Copper and Sulphur) and Epsom Salts.
- We have begun developing windbreaks in the vineyard to help reduce the desiccation of the vines. We are on a very windy site that tends to dry the vines out. By constructing a windbreak, we are improving the condition of the vines by breaking up the wind, allowing them to stay hydrated.
Bullfrog Power
We are constantly trying to reduce our carbon footprint as such BullFrog Power is the right energy provider for us. It is not practical for us to develop a solar or wind project, so we decided to contract our energy source to a company dedicated to building out a sustainable energy program we get the juice without the squeeze.
Eco-Cart Carbon Offset
We know we cannot eliminate carbon emissions from our process. 60% of the carbon footprint from wine comes from glass bottles alone. We ship our wines in trucks that burn fossil fuels. There isn't much we can do about that right now. What we can do is contribute to projects that are making a difference. So in November 2021, we launched an offset program with EcoCart. Now with every order, we offer the opportunity to offset the carbon footprint of our wine based on the weight of the order and the distance it will travel.
