While we believe every month should have a focus on how to be responsible stewards of the planet, April has been deemed the month to focus on the environment and our impact on Earth. To commemorate that, Aurora Cellars is highlighting some of the things we do and practices we implement to be eco-friendly throughout the winemaking process. From the growing process to winemaking practices, there are several ways Aurora Cellars has made more eco-friendly choices, including using a mechanical weeder in the vineyards and crossflow filters in the cellars.

Mechanical Weeder

A mechanical weeder uses a combination of blades that go just below the surface of the soil to pull up the weeds in the vineyards. It allows us to reduce the use of herbicide in the fields and is effective against certain types of weeds that are more tolerant of herbicides.

By using a mechanical weeder in the vineyards, we are able to manage the undervine growth of weeds so the use of chemical control methods is not needed. Whenever there is growth covering the base of the vine, they have to compete for water and the nutrients needed to grow. The mechanical weeder allows us to interrupt the growth pattern of those weeds to let the nutrients and water go directly to the vine.

While it is a slower process than chemical application, mechanical weeding has given benefits to the health of the soil after repeated use. If we were to use a chemical application to get rid of the weeds, we would see an acidification of the top six inches of soil and the stratification of nutrients. “We are able to avoid this process by physically removing or mulching of the weeds and see an increase in organic matter which in turn helps rejuvenate the long term health of the entire soil column,” explains Harbor Hill Fruit Farms President and Aurora Cellars Co-Owner Sam Simpson.

Since Northern Michigan is a cool climate growing area, there is a much tighter window to accomplish viticultural tasks that help with the development of the fruit. Simpson says that any time there are weeds competing with the vine, there is a layer of unnecessary struggle for essential nutrients and water.

Other Eco-Friendly Practices Used in Vineyards

Some of the other eco-friendly practices we use in Aurora’s vineyards include:

1. High Efficiency sprayers. These use 20 to 30% fewer chemicals and allow us to put out essential sprays three times faster than old methods and use three times less fuel.
2. Spray tractors. Ours are fitted with diesel regenerative filters to help reduce emissions.
3. Removal. Use mechanical means to remove shoots on the base of the vines instead of using a chemical burn down method.
4. Compost. Using compost in our vineyards is a much more natural way of integrating nutrients as opposed to only using synthetic fertilizer. It is also a sustainable way to keep the health of the soil improved.
5. Cover Crops. In an effort to increase nitrogen and organic matter into the soil, we plant cover crops between the rows on a continual basis. While this is a more time consuming and extra step in the grape growing process, we feel it is necessary to ensure our vines have the most nutritious soil to help them group high quality fruit to make award-winning wines.

Crossflow Filters

What is crossflow filtration and why is it important?

Crossflow filtration is a process where a liquid product such as wine is forced through a series of ceramic membranes to reach a certain porosity level by using self contained inert loop filtration. Any solids that are retained are stored within the unit and then flushed back over the membranes to free up any accumulation of solids. Aurora Cellars Winemaker Drew Perry says “This lets us make decisions for the wine based on when we feel it’s ready, instead of having to force it through filtrations to hit a logistical goal months down the road.”

What makes this filtration method eco-friendly is that it produces significantly less waste and reduces the number of movements needed on a wine to as little as one time before bottling. Crossflow filtering allows us to reduce the amount of cellulose pads we use in the cellar. Since using the crossflow filter as part of our winemaking process, we have been able to reduce our ad consumption by almost 100% – which means we have wasted 2,000 less 48”x48” square cellulose pads. By switching to crossflow filtration, we have been able to also free up 1,000 hours of labor.

When it comes to other eco-friendly processes in the cellar, Perry says the biggest one would be the disposal of waste. Instead of putting the waste bi-product from the juice settling and fermentation down the drain, Aurora’s cellar crew pumps it into totes to reuse in the vineyards. The valuable nutrients left in the lees are very beneficial to the vineyards, explains Perry. Any grape waste during harvest time is also reused in the vineyards. When pressing the grapes is complete, we take the pressed remains to areas around our farms to be composted.