ALTON FARM ESTATE WINERY

Insecticides are seldom used in the vineyard as they disrupt the ecology - we accept the fact that we will have some insect damage to the plants and the fruit. If necessary, we remove insects by shaking the grape bunches prior to making our wine. We do lose leaves due to insect damage (especially Japanese beetles), we do lose grapes to other insect damage, but our practices reduce chemical input into our wines. We leave damaged fruit behind in the vineyard for the birds... We also try to use natural fertilizers such as composted manures to help our vines grow. We keep our rows natural with grasses to keep down erosion and reduce evaporative water losses, weeds to help insects, clover to add nitrogen to the soil and reduced mowing to help keep nature in the vineyard. And from the winery, we compost our wine making residues - spreading this material in the vineyard to aid the plant growth... Once the vines were mature enough to harvest for wine making, about 7 years, the real fun..

Also known as: Alton Farms Estate Winery

Primary location: Plympton-wyoming Canada