Mariah Vineyards

02/08/2024

12/20/2023

For the love of our soil & our vines!

Fall vineyard application of AEA Regenerative Soil Primer (between grape picks on Oct. 13/14). Giving our vineyard a little extra love before the vines go to bed for the winter. Just because the vines go dormant through the winter months doesn’t mean the soil does. This is the time of year when the energy of the ecosystem shifts from above ground to below ground. Over the cold winter months the soil system continues to work its magic! The soil primer helps boost soil microbial populations which aid in a myriad of important ecosystem functions such as nutrient cycling & availability to our vines and cover crop all the while improving vine health, disease resistance & climate resilience.

A shout out to our amazing Regenerative Agronomy Consultant, Pedro for his knowledge and guidance to help us optimize the overall health of our vineyard.

09/27/2023

☀️2023 SUMMER VINEYARD SNAPSHOTS

09/27/2023

In May we welcomed ~50,000 new 🐝’s to our mountain top! Thanks to for her impeccable bee expertise in getting them settled in their new home.

As many of you may already know bees are in serious decline and since they are an incredibly important pollinator across our planet for so many plant species, and various crops many foods we consume are directly reliant on bees as pollinators. Wine grapes are not one of these crops but we want to do our part to help support healthy bee populations. Because we are farming our vineyard organically without the use of toxic chemical pesticides, herbicides or fungicides and our isolated mountain top isn’t affected by any unforeseen ‘chemical drift’ from any nearby conventional farming operations we are in an ideal location to help foster healthy & resilient bee populations.
🐝

07/09/2023

Ecological Outcome Verification (EOV) annual monitoring by our local in collaboration with the global on May 22, 2023.

This ‘boots on the ground’ 3rd party assessment of our land looks at both short-term & long-term sites through a well rounded ecological health index (EHI) lens to evaluate the overall health & function of our vineyard ecosystems. This outcome based scientific & holistic monitoring of our regenerative progress is the basis for our verification seal, which is carried from our land all the way through our grapes to our wines.

06/04/2023

B U D B R E A K !
April 25, 2023

This spring was our latest bud break to date in the 43 years we’ve been growing grapes on this coastal ridge top. We had a refreshingly cold, wet & long winter up here but the vines and the emerging buds look healthy & vibrant. Looking forward to the 2023 vintage!

*pictured: newly grafted Trentino Chardonnay

05/31/2023

V I N E Y A R D C O V E R C R O P 🌱

Just a peak at some of the diversity of plant species that come up every spring in our permanent vineyard

These plants & grasses play a vital role in the health and vitality of our vineyard. This biodiversity of plants above ground attracts beneficial insects & pollinators which are important to the overall health of our mountain vineyard ecosystem, but they also play an important role below ground.

Each plant species contributes something unique to the interconnected soil food web, allowing for more optimal functioning of the natural nutrient, mineral & water cycles. Because we are we keep the living roots of these various plant species in the ground to play their role in feeding the soil & ultimately our vines. This also means our soil remains covered & protected allowing rainwater to infiltrate deep into our soil profile (vital for our deep rooted non-irrigated vines) increasing the water holding capacity of the soil & preventing erosion. And as we approach the hotter, drier summer months these plants keep the soil cooler & protected from harmful solar radiation.

These cover crop species left alive (not killed & tilled into the soil) continue their life giving role of photosynthesizing- turning sunlight energy & atmospheric CO2 into food for soil our microorganisms and ultimately our wines.

05/30/2023

F O R E S T B L O OM
s p r i n g 2 0 2 3

The forest surrounding the vineyard is awakening after a long, wet winter. This year we are even seeing rare forest orchids called ‘Fairy Slippers’ emerging allover the pristine forest floor. And the white thorn bloom is filling the air with its’ distinctly sweet white floral fragrance (the bees are loving it!)

05/19/2023

Dad + Daughter day well spent… seeing our friends from around Mendocino County & beyond at the workshop hosted by (April 4, 2023)

We are fortunate to be living & farming in such a progressive, innovative, environmentally diverse & eco-conscious community

12/13/2022

💫 R E J O I C E R E G E N E R A T I V E L Y 💫

Check out these regenerative products (+holiday season discounts) on the rejoice regeneratively guide:

https://www.whiteleafprovision.com/blogs/lifestyle/our-rejoice-regeneratively-guide-is-here

🌲 ⭐️ 🌲 ⭐️ 🌲 ⭐️ 🌲 ⭐️

Enjoy 25% OFF all Mariah wine orders with code PUREJOY25

10/28/2022

Oct. 16 we brought in our last fruit of 2022: dry farmed Zinfandel. It was a challenging farming year to say the least, but despite the low yields this year the health & vitality of our mountain vineyard is amazing! Now our vines are looking forward to a rejuvenating winters rest.

10/28/2022

Picked our last grapes of 2022 on Oct. 16. It was the greenest our permanent cover crop has been during harvest (definitely thanks to the nearly 5in of early September rains we got!)

It’s been quite the challenging year in a continued drought on our dry farmed vineyard. Our growing season started out with our first ever frost damage, then we got rain during bloom affecting our fruit set followed by excessively high mildew pressure all summer topped off by a crazy heat wave with temps of 115F and (although we always welcome any precip) we got hammered with a serious rain storm during harvest! It was a bit relentless with these weather issues combined with equipment breakdowns and labor shortages.

BUT despite the low yields this year the wineries & winemakers we sell grapes to were absolutely understanding and appreciative of what quality fruit we were able to deliver them. Our vines are healthy and resilient so they were able to tolerate these environmental stressors but it’s definitely humbling to go through a vintage like this one. It really brings home the fact that we are farming WITH nature and she calls the shots, not us. Thank you Mother Nature for the reminder 🌍 💚

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