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In February of 2007,
Marin
Solar completed a 137kW installation for Oakville Ranch Vineyards in
Napa, CA. Uncompromising in their endeavor for beauty and
excellence, they sought an aesthetic and practical solution in
solar. 636 SunPower panels mounted on rooftops and the environs now
drive the electricity to make the wines we all can enjoy. We are all
very pleased with the final installation, and we raise our glasses
in a
toast to clean energy.
Click
here to see more
pictures.
  Galileo
once said, "Wine is sunlight, held together by water." There
couldn't be a more apt description for the increasing use of solar
arrays to power irrigation systems in California vineyards....
The solar arrays are stationed at
strategic positions on the ORV property. Half of the 92kW main array
provides power to houses and outbuildings on the property, while the
other half powers a well pump feeding the tank farm.
Click
here to see more pictures. |
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Phil Coturri Joins
Oakville Ranch as Vineyard Manager
Forty Years of Grape Growing
Passion Comes to the Napa Valley
  Leadership
of the grape growing effort at Oakville Ranch is now helmed by Phil
Coturri, a life-long advocate of organic farming and soil
conservation. Phil joins Ashley Heisey, Winemaker, and Paula
Kornell, General Manager, to realize the mission of owner, Mary
Miner -- to create powerful, yet balanced wines, from her estate
grapes.
Already Great and Getting Better
Phil's first duty, after assessing the individual vineyard blocks,
was to fine-tune the winter pruning effort to bring each vine into
better harmony. "We have widely varying terrain and geology here on
the ranch," says Phil. "Within each block we are trying to create
some uniformity within this diversity."
An ongoing process, one that will take three full years to complete,
is the transition to certified organic farming. Phil believes that
"...this soil is our most precious asset. We must do everything that
we can to protect and enrich it." In that spirit, cover crops of
clovers, grasses and legumes have been planted and tended to secure
the soil, add nutrients, and harbor a variety of beneficial
microorganisms below the ground, and beneficial insect life above.
With vineyards, often maligned as "monocultures," it is important to
embrace and encourage biodiversity.
"I want it to be said of me that I give back to the soil more in
each vintage than we take from it in grapes. That is the true
definition of sustainability."
Evolutionary Elements at the Ranch
Concurrent with the changes in grape growing techniques, Phil and
Paula are adding over 18 owl nesting boxes and raptor roosts to
encourage population growth in this important vineyard community.
Mary Miner, an advocate of solar energy, has invested in panel
installations that produce electricity that renewably power the
wells and pumps on the ranch.
"Working again with Paula Kornell is a refound pleasure," says Phil.
"Since our days together at Carmenet I have admired Paula for her
passion, sense of humor, and dedication to quality. It is an honor
to farm a vineyard that already has such a great pedigree!"
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