Going Green
Pre-emergent herbicides are used to “prevent” weeds from growing by poisoning the soil. Due to their residual nature, they have the potential to pollute the groundwater. Unlike nearly all vineyards, Berryville Vineyards does not use preemergent herbicides due to their potential for negative environmental impacts.
Our winery utilizes 100% geo-thermal heating and cooling. Although more expensive to install, it is one of the greenest ways to heat and cool.
Our vineyard is never tilled. When soil is tilled it releases Carbon Dioxide, a greenhouse gas. Since our vineyard is on hills, tillage would also contribute to erosion, which causes our creeks to fill with silt.
We use only hand-picked berries we grow on site to make our wine. Since our berries are grown right around the winery, minimal fossil fuels are used to transport them. Most large wineries use grapes that are harvested with a combine, but ours are picked by hand which burns infinitely less fuel. Most importantly, using only what we grow gives us greater control over our environmental impact.
Our winery is a structure of Oak built almost completely from trees surrounding our vineyard. They were harvested in a sustainable manner and very little energy was spent preparing them for use. The winery has no windows in order to be more energy efficient. Since we are so green, our company rarely has monthly power bills that exceed $100.
Nearly all vineyards use synthetic chemical fertilizers to boost their yields. These synthetic fertilizers require large amounts of fossil fuels to manufacture and transport. At Berryville Vineyards, only natural, organic fertilizers are utilized to nurture our plants.
Being one of the greenest buildings you will ever set foot in, our tasting room is built almost completely from materials recycled from eleven different local barns and buildings. It also contains some wood from trees harvested around our vineyard. It contains no purchased lumber. Bought lumber requires greater amounts of fossil fuels to transport and process.
