The Benziger Family Winery has just released the 2007 and 2008 vintages of the Puma Springs Cabernet as part of their single vineyard program.  The wines are a limited production bottling available only at the Benziger Family Winery tasting room in Glen Ellen and on-line. 

2010 proved to be another very challenging year in the vineyard, with the weather playing havoc all year long. Unlike 2009 we did manage to get a small harvest this year, but both quality and quantity were well below what we had hoped for.

Merlot grapes being harvested and sorted, harvest 2010.

This summer after a three year process Puma Springs Vineyards finally gained the coveted Demeter Biodynamic® and USDA certification for the grapes grown at the farm.

With weather reported directly from our vineyard and updated several times a day.

If you have been by Puma Springs Vineyards lately, you will see a lot of activity in the vineyard, but not of the grape growing variety.

Instead there are herds of sheep roaming around grazing on the ground. Sheep in a vineyard you ask? Most certainly! They make the cutest and most environmentally friendly lawn mowers.  While vineyards don’t have lawns, they do have weeds. At this time of year when the rain is falling and the tractors can’t get in the fields the sheep have the advantage of being able to work at keeping the grass and weeds under control rain or shine.

The Old English Babydoll Miniature Southdown sheep are rented from Canvas Ranch in Petaluma (www.canvasranch.com). The job of the sheep is to eat weeds and control the cover crop, while at the same time providing “natural” fertilizer back into the soil. They came at the beginning of January and “have been munching away ever since”.

For more info on the Babydoll sheep, please contact:

CANVAS RANCH
755 TOMALES ROAD
PETALUMA, CA 94952
707.766.7171
info@canvasranch.com