Amista, Sonoma, Sustainable!

"Since 2013, Amista Vineyards in Dry Creek Valley has been working with the Sonoma County Water Agency to recreate a thriving habitat for endangered Steelhead trout and Coho salmon", writes Karin von Berg, Editor of Luxelife Magazine. Von Berg was a part of Sustainabiliy Camp, hosted by the Sonoma County Winegrowers, where participants saw first hand the many vineyards and wineries who are working to make the county a model of sustainability.

Read how Amista Vineyards and many of our neighbors are working to achieve the goal of 100% sustainability.

Jun 20, 2019 at 4:04 PM Permalink

Amista Vineyards is Part of Sonoma's Goal to be 100% Sustainable

"Sonoma tends to operate much like its own planet...as pretty much everything you eat and drink here is grown off of the land within the county," writes Shauna Farnell about her recent visit. 

"Wander through the vineyards of Amista, Dry Creek Valley’s only producer of sparkling wine, and arrive at the actual Dry Creek. Amista has resting ponds for spawning salmon along their upstream journeys, and cover crops keep the soil healthy and foster microbial activity," adds Farnell.

Read all about Sonoma's - and Amista's - mission to become 100% sustainable on Matador Network.

Jun 16, 2019 at 2:40 PM Permalink

How do you Punch Down Syrah in Your Garage?

Make Sure You Have Friends Visiting!

…because it's a lot easier and more fun!

Mike had harvested 3 tons of Syrah grapes from our Healdsburg vineyard, and they were soaking in bins in our garage to develop color and flavors. While the grapes are soaking, a cap of grape skins rises to the top of each bin. That cap needs to be “punched down” daily to reincorporate it with the juice. Punch down is hard work, which why it’s best to entice friends to help. Enter our long-time friends Meg and Dale who came to visit from our home state of Colorado.

Dale helped Mike 8 years earlier with punch downs in another garage at our home in Silicon Valley when Mike made his first wine from Cabernet grapes. They had just as much fun then as they did in their long-awaited encore performance! Meg and I once again made sure we had something else to do – shopping, lunch, sipping a glass of wine.

That’s probably why I didn’t recognize that Mike was becoming captivated with making wine and that we would eventually find ourselves in the wine business with our friends cheering us on every step of the way!

Jun 3, 2019 at 8:27 AM Permalink