Category: <span>Farms &amp; Vineyards</span>
 
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Category: <span>Farms & Vineyards</span>

Artisanal Winemaking on Display from Santa Lucia Highlands

February 21, 2010

The Santa Lucia Highlands Wine Artisans proved true to their moniker at a recent tasting in San Francisco. Over two dozen labels were represented from this distinct appellation in southern Monterey County – including SIP members Hahn Family Wines, McIntyre Vineyards, and Paraiso Vineyards. McIntyre visibly touted sustainablity and the SIP Seal in their handout, including noting that Steve McIntyre was a founding member of Central Coast Vineyard Team. Hahn Family Wines had the SIP seal all over their marketing literature, including seed packets containing the same wildflower/cover crop mixture that they use in the... [Read more...]


Margarita Vineyard of Ancient Peaks Gains SIP Certification

February 3, 2010

Ancient Peaks Winery’s estate Margarita Vineyard is one of the latest to earn SIP (Sustainability in Practice) Certification in recognition of the vineyard’s numerous sustainable viticultural practices. “We are proud to have met the rigorous standards of the SIP certification process,” said co-owner and vineyard manager Doug Filipponi. “This certification recognizes what we are doing to ensure natural quality in our wines, and it reflects our passion for being good stewards of the land.” Margarita Vineyard stands alone as the southernmost vineyard in the Paso Robles appellation, nestled into the rugged Santa Lucia Mountain range just... [Read more...]


Kudos to Niels Udsen of Castoro Cellars

January 26, 2010

It was great to see Niels Udsen of Castoro Cellars recently honored by the Paso Robles Wine Country Alliance as their 2009 Paso Robles Wine Industry Person of the Year. A longtime supporter of Central Coast Vineyard Team and the SIP program – some of Castoro’s vineyards are SIP certified, as well as being certified organic – Niels started as a local cellar rat back in 1981, when no one knew what a Paso Robles was. He and his wife Bimmer launched Castoro (Italian for Niels’ nickname: “Beaver”) in 1983, and over the years, it... [Read more...]


Pacific Vineyard Company Takes Lead on Summertime Worker Safety

January 7, 2010

With chilly winter temperatures gripping much of the nation, it may be an odd time to think about the dangers of heat stroke to farmworkers, but such was the topic of a recent story on the Capital Press website. A Napa Valley businessman has laudably developed and patented a first aid/cooling station for farmworkers. The portable trailer offers pop-up shade, water, etc. and we hope it will catch on with vineyard owners and managers, even if their only motivation is avoiding litigation. We’d like to point out, however, in the summer of 2009 a local... [Read more...]


SIP Seal Gaining Some Buzz

November 19, 2009

Judging from the standing room only crowd at the SIP Roundtable breakout seminar at CCVT’s 2009 Sustainable Ag Expo, there’s certainly a lot of buzz about the SIP program, and – we think – rightly so! CCVT Executive Director Kris O’Connor spoke about the success of the fledgling program, now only in its second year, but already with 30-plus members and about 11,000 certified acres. She also noted that all the first year members renewed, many with expanded acreage. She stressed that although much of the certified acreage is from the counties of Monterey, San... [Read more...]