Please take moment to check out the blog update from my trip! It includes a few pictures and a very brief update/sneak peak into the upcoming NSSGA article.
Then if you enjoyed that, you can read the full article, published in the July/Aug edition of Sand, Stone, and Gravel REVIEW by the NSSGA.
The Riverbench Story At first glance, Riverbench Vineyards appears to be a fairly standard, boutique winery in one of California's popular wine regions, the Santa Maria Valley. The grounds and picturesque, with hundreds of acres of beautiful vines rolling along out from the highway. The tasting room is charming. It's an old original farmhouse that has been restored and even used reclaimed concrete from the original building. It has a warm feel with friendly staff and, of course, award-winning wines. But what the average lay-person would not realize about Riverbench Vineyards is that there is much more going on behind the scenes than just harvesting and blending.
Over time, mutually beneficial deals have been made, which benefit both the vineyard and local aggregate companies- today, CalPortland, and previously, Union Asphalt. The deal is basically this: CalPortland will be allowed to remove 12 acres of vineyards at a time to mine the valuable sand and gravel deposits beneath, so long as they immediately reclaim those 12 acres back to vineyards once they've finished the extraction. Upon completion, they can move on to the next 12 acres. This process will occur until the whole 400-acre vineyard is mined and reclaimed.
Part of the reason this deal was struck is because it's already been shown that such a reclamation project can be successful. A 40-acre parcel adjacent to the 400-acre Riverbench Vineyards, which was previously mined for sand and gravel, has now been reclaimed by Union Asphalt/CalPortland and turned back into a fully productive vineyards. The grapes are sold to local vintners and started producing roughly 100% volume of fruit three years following reclamation and planting.
There are often questions about whether or not reclaimed pits can or cannot be used for agricultural reclamation - specifically, whether or not the resulting soils will support crops. Examples like this prove it can be done. It does not demonstrate this is always the case, because each pit and project is unique, but the possibility is there.
What makes this so special?
Wine!
Beautiful scenic area
The vineyard uses the pit slopes, which can be problematic for reclamation projects
Unique partnership between vintners and aggregate industry
Win-win solutions
Community support and engaged operators/business owners
Economic benefits for all parties
Plan a Pit Stop! Be sure to check out the winery- the address below is for the tasting room! If you're interested to learn more about the reclamation itself, contact me and/or contact CalPortland in that area. If you'd like to learn more about Riverbench Vineyards, please visit riverbench.com.
Quick note if you're flying in... Flights to the smaller local airports can be quite spendy. I flew into San Jose and got a rental car then drove down. It was a beautiful drive, limited traffic (cannot say the same for going through LAX), and in my opinion is the way to go. There are also lots of airport options in the Bay Area so you can find multiple prices and flight times that fit your schedule.