{"id":408,"date":"2010-11-17T06:30:09","date_gmt":"2010-11-17T13:30:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.threeadventure.com\/hootnannie\/2010\/11\/17\/408\/"},"modified":"2010-11-17T06:30:09","modified_gmt":"2010-11-17T13:30:09","slug":"408","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.threeadventure.com\/hootnannie\/2010\/11\/17\/408\/","title":{"rendered":"In the Vineyard with Estancia, in the Santa Lucia Highlands"},"content":{"rendered":"

We were wandering around in the Stonewall vineyard, in the Santa Lucia Highlands AVA of Monterey County, where Estancia<\/a> Estates carefully grows some of their Pinot Noir grapes.\u00a0 They had just finished harvest and were still tending to the vines in preparation for Winter and the coming Spring.\u00a0 It was awesome to be out in the vineyard learning about some of their sustainable practices and the machinery used to make their lives easier.<\/p>\n

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Stonewall Vineyard<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Vineyard Manager, Jason Melvin, described some of the things that they do before the vines go dormant for the Winter.\u00a0 One is to do a last fertilizing as a “root flush” so that the nutrients will be at the ready when the Spring comes.\u00a0 Another is to keep a native grass cover crop to protect and feed the soil throughout the year.<\/p>\n

As we stood in the vineyard, we watched their tractor going through the rows, trimming under the surface of the soil in an effort to keep out some weeds.\u00a0 They have this specially designed tractor attachment that cuts an inch or so under the dirt between each vine to get the weeds.\u00a0 It very carefully moves along and the little mechanism senses where the vine is as it cuts along.\u00a0 This is much more efficient than weeding by hand and much better for the environment than using chemicals to kill the weeds.<\/p>\n

Check it out:<\/p>\n

[youtube]http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=5fP0HtIZxMY[\/youtube]<\/p>\n

Related articles<\/h6>\n