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QUIVIRA: BETTER WINES FOR A BETTER WORLD
by Grady Wann, General Manager & Winemaker
At Quivira, we are not just interested in making better wine; we
are also interested in doing our part to make a better world. We
believe that inherent in being a property owner is the
responsibility of good stewardship. This is especially true when
your property sits in the heart of the beautiful Dry Creek Valley
and at the junction of two creeks–Dry Creek and Wine Creek–that
are natural steelhead and salmon spawning streams. For the
twenty-three years that Henry and Holly have owned the property,
we have always farmed the ninety acres of the Wine Creek Ranch
Estate with an emphasis on sustainability and minimal impact.
There are, however, two exciting projects at Quivira that are
working to extend that conservation philosophy. The first is a
restoration effort on Wine Creek itself. This small stream with
its headwaters up on Bradford Mountain upstream from Quivira was
once a thriving habitat for steelhead and Coho salmon. The creek
had plenty of cool, oxygen-rich water and clean gravel that the
fish required. Over the years, agricultural development, gravel
mining and other factors have had a negative impact on the fish
habitat, mainly by removing shade and silting up the gravel beds.
We have been working for the past several years with the
California Fish and Game and other organizations to restore our
section of the creek. Our project involves adding low-fall dams to
help trap clean gravel and oxygenate the water, as well as pulling
back the steep banks and planting native trees and shrubs for
shade and stability. Although the first phase is complete, there
is more work to do. One gratifying result that we have already
seen is that some of our neighbors have joined in the effort
upstream. It is wonderful to see the large adult fish return in
February and March to Wine Creek and we look forward to them
coming back in increasing numbers.
Just as exciting is Quivira’s formalization of our commitment to
the organic farming of the rest of the property. We feel that the
time is right for us to begin the three-year process to become a
certified organic grape grower. Although our grapes have been
farmed with a minimum of synthetic herbicides, pesticides and
fungicides from the beginning, we believe that the industry has
now gained the knowledge and experience to grow grapes that
improve the wines as well as the environment. We have been working
with Alan York, a viticultural consultant, who has also introduced
us to the concepts of bio-dynamic farming. This holistic branch of
organic farming treats the entire ranch as an integrated whole and
strives to make it both self-contained and self-sustaining. Not
only will we be using organic fertilizers, integrated pest
management, no chemicals and controlling weeds by mechanical means
exclusively, but we will start composting all of our winery waste
for use in our vineyards and look to promote biodiversity in and
around our vineyards.
At Quivira, our commitment is to make better wines. We also want
you to know that we respect the property that we farm. Our estate
is at the heart of the Dry Creek Valley – and we want it to remain
a healthy heart for a long time to come. Enjoy the wines of
Quivira.
www.quivirawine.com, 4900 W. Dry Creek Road, 707/431.8333
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