In recent years at Skolnik Industries, we have developed and implemented a Sustainability Plan that reduces our environmental foot print and guides us to become better stewards of our natural resources. We are always interested in hearing what other companies are doing and a recent article on WineBusiness.com definitely caught our attention. Kathy Kloop, of Kloop Ranch Vineyard in the Russian River Valley region of Sonoma, found herself over-run with gophers in her vineyard and rats in her chicken coop. She introduced “vineyard cats” to patrol her property. “We have 25 acres of vineyards,” reports Kathy, “and even though we have an owl box program, it was still an issue. We also had a problem with rats eating our chicken food. We didn’t want to use poison because we don’t want to harm the environment. We called Forgotten Felines of Sonoma County and they helped us introduce two feral cats to our property. Happily, they have eliminated the rats from the chicken food area and barns, and we occasionally glimpse the cats with a critter from the vineyard in their mouths.” Gophers, moles and voles have always been a source of concern to Sonoma County grape growers as the often eat the roots of grapevines. Finding a safe and humane method to deal with the issue has always been a challenge. The introduction of feral cats to be vineyard and winery cats is a useful solution. Bill Frick of Frick Winery, located in Dry Creek AVA, agrees with Kathy: “I was having a problem with rodents in my winery barn,” he explains. “I didn’t want to use poison or traps, so when I heard about the opportunity to adopt feral cats I jumped at the chance. Now there is very little evidence of rodent activity. The cats are a great natural organic rodent control! One of them has become less shy and sometimes follows winery visitors from the tasting room to the parking lot. They seem to enjoy our winery cats. ” Along with cats and owls, another major way wineries can promote sustainability is through the use of Skolnik’s Stainless Steel Wine Barrels, they are re-usable for generations and 100% recyclable!
Wine