What does 100% Sustainable Mean?
September 9, 2022
Every step of the winemaking process can take years to come to fruition; every decision made must take the future into account.
As a family-owned business, our goal has always been to minimize the environmental impacts of winegrowing to ensure the land we leave to future generations is the same or better than we found it.
For this reason, we dedicate ourselves to being leaders in the practices of sustainable agriculture.
At its core, sustainable viticulture is intuitive farming. Agricultural production and nature aren’t removed from one another: rather, they are a unified system in rhythm. By utilizing techniques in place of synthetic chemicals or GMOS, we are letting Mother Nature do her job.
Here are some of the ways we are practicing sustainable viticulture in our estate vineyards:
- Employing drip irrigation and buried soil-moisture monitors to conserve water and only give the vines what they need.
- Leaving some ground cover un-mowed to preserve the habitat for beneficial insects.
- Planting wild roses and leaving blackberries where they exist to provide winter habitats for a parasitic wasp that attacks leafhoppers.
- Adding compost to the soil to restore and enrich the humus.
- Placing owl boxes in the vineyards to encourage nesting and chemical-free rodent control.
- Supporting the presence of hawks and kestrels to manage vineyard pests, such as voles, rodents, and birds.
- Utilizing organic products such as sulfur and liquid fish oil to replace hard chemicals that control powdery mildew.
Our Director of Winemaking, Jean-François Pellet, has been passionate about sustainable viticulture since day one. To empower others in the winemaking community to join his efforts, he is a founding member of the Walla Walla Valley’s sustainable viticulture program, VINEA. This group of over 60 winegrowers and wineries have embraced a covenant with environmental, economic, and social sustainability concurrent with their production of grapes and wine.
