Cover Crops and Sustainability

Seeing green lately?   If you walk the vines at La Mesa this winter, you’re not seeing things!  Last season we implemented a new cover-crop system, developed in partnership with the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Cover crop seeds are planted in late fall using our applicator. The seeds grow into a healthy turf through the winter season until turned under in the spring to return their nutrients.

Our cover crop is a blend of two types of seeds: Canadian Winter Rye Grass and Winter Pea. Rye grass sprouts early, before weeds have a chance to take off. It grows to about a foot high.  This chokes out the pest weeds such as star thistle and establishes that beautiful green canopy you see between the vines.  On the steeper hillside, it slows erosion of soil nutrients during heavy winter rains. 

The winter pea pulls in beneficial nitrogen from the atmosphere, which will be mowed and composted. Nitrogen from the winter pea is absorbed into the vines and fertilizes them naturally. This is a huge benefit, eliminating the need for separate fertilizer chemical applications, some of which would inevitably wash down the hillside and into our waterways during heavy rains.

Cover crop application may not be the first thing that springs to mind when enjoying our award-winning wines, but it is yet another aspect of the important work we do to farm sustainably at La Mesa.  We are working hard to keep our land and watershed healthy for future generations: That’s worth cheering!

Cover crop applicator arriving from the factory!

Seed mix is a blend specially calibrated for our granitic soil profile, crop, elevation and climate. 

A nice autumn day after our busy harvest season is over makes for an excellent time to plant the cover crop. 

Close-up of the grass and peas sprouting. These will get mulched in with any leaves from the vines in the spring.