Our Vineyards

We recycle 100% of the winery’s waste water by collecting and dispersing it onto one of the Abbey’s fallow fields. The winery also recycles the water used to hydrate barrels, up to four times, by reusing the same barrel water to hydrate the next set of barrels. The use of ozonated water and gas also helps to lower the amount of water used by providing good sanitation without the use of large amounts of water. There are many other small contributors that help us lower our water usage such as low flow nozzles and toilets, as well as recycling our sanitizing water used in the winery. And of course dry farming and deficit irrigation practices also helps us better manage our water resources.

In 2007, the Abbey installed two 75 kW solar modules next to the winery to help reduce our electrical impact on the environment. They also installed another 75 kW solar panel next to their main well and pump that supplies water to the winery, tasting room, St. James Block, and many other parts of the monastery. The monastery has been using solar power as a source of power for several of their buildings since the 1970’s. They are proud to embrace new technologies and continue with its development.

We pay great attention to recycling as many of our materials as possible. The waste of our pomace (pressed grapes skins and seeds) is either feed to a local heard of cattle or added to the monasteries compost pile. All of the winery’s waste water is recycled and reused on fallow fields, barrels are re-used as much as possible. All paper, plastic, aluminum, metal, and used vehicle oil are also recycled.

Dry farming is the practice of relying only on natural annual rainfall for growing grapes. We use dry farming for the property’s St. James Block. The water held in the soils provides the necessary water for these vines to grow. This aids in water conservation and also leads to high-quality grapes. Because of the sandy, rocky soil in the Poor Souls Block, the natural rain water is not enough to keep this vineyard healthy. However, deficit irrigation practices are used for the benefit of both the fruit and conservation of resources.

Our winery, cellar and tasting room was originally constructed in 1887 as a much larger cellar built to store and age about 2 million gallons of wine. At the time of construction mechanical cooling for such large buildings was not practical, so it was built with natural resistance to temperature fluctuations with 2 and a half foot double brick walls and a 18 inch air space to help the outside temperatures from affecting the inside temperature. Also a large attic space was built on top of the whole building to act as a barrier to help withstand temperature change. This simple but heavy use of material in construction is very important to aging a wine properly, which readily expands and contracts with temperature fluctuations. Although we have installed mechanical cooling to help better control the temperature and thus ensuring a quality product, the amount that is utilized is minimal, simply from the original design of the building.