Robert Sinskey Vineyards

Sterile ways do in fact make for sterile wines. Within the last fifty years or so, the goal of conventional farming has been to remove the guesswork. Chemical farmers analyze the needs of the plant, remove any potential risk or competitor, and artificially provide the needed nutrients through synthesized fertilizer amendments. We grant that this method of farming may yield an aesthetically pleasing crop but it does not address what a plant needs to make a more flavorful and distinct crop, particularly when that crop is to be used to make wine. Imagine feeding a baby solely vitamins, minerals, carbohydrates and protein as powdered amendments. No mother’s milk, no real food, just what the baby technically needs for basic growth. Undoubtedly you’d find that baby missing an enzyme that he needed for digestion, a vitamin for a sound immune system or a mineral for bone density.
There is much that we don’t understand about the dynamic relationships at work in the soil. For instance, mycorrhizal fungi in the soil hasten the absorption of certain vital nutrients to the vine as much as five-fold. Conventional farming often ignores this dynamic relationship. By creating an environment where nutrients break down slowly, as nature intended, we are able to provide the vine with what it needs when it needs it. Thriving microbial and fungal activity in the soil is our goal and the bonne merde from the sheep is a great boon to these colonies. The vine gets what it needs as it needs it, fortifying its immune system and improving the flavor of the grapes by picking up trace elements that would otherwise be missed when the vines are force-fed a diet of synthetic chemicals.
All of this bonne merde helps to preserve and accentuate the personality of our vineyards and grapes, and in turn lends personalities to our wines. We’re confident that all that goes into our soil makes our Pinot Noirs truly bonne merde.