Sustainable Farming

We want to be stewards of the land in every way. Sustainable viticulture practices are used to nourish the soil and produce balanced vines. Wild grasses and flowers are planted to provide flowering plants from March through July, feeding the insects that are pollen eaters and their predators including spiders, thrips, lady bugs, pirate bugs, aphids and predatory mites. When the under story of grasses and flowers are finally dry and are mowed, the predators move unto the upper story of the vines and attack and eat the parasites of the vines. A balance of nature occurs so that we do not have to use insecticides in our vineyards and have not for going on 40 years.

We encourage threatened songbirds, the Western Bluebird and Tree Swallow to live in our vineyards by providing bird houses for nesting. The swallows eat flying insects, mosquitoes and the like, keeping the humans happy. The bluebirds fly amongst the vines eating cutworms, grasshoppers, and leaf hoppers, keeping the grapes healthy.

Compost is added by hand to the soil to provide additional minerals, organic material and beneficial bacteria. The bacteria and other microorganisms break down the naturally occurring minerals in the soil and make them available to the vines. Green manure in the form of clover is grown in the rows. In the spring, we chop and mow the old pruned canes along with the grass to provide a cover of nutritious mulch for the vines, grasses and wild flowers.

In addition to producing award-winning wines, we also produce 1800-kilowatts of electricity through our solar panels to reduce our carbon footprint.