Monticello

 

MONTICELLO has been intertwined with EARTH DAY for 55 years, since 1970, the year both were founded.

 

 

🌎 Earth Day theme for 2024 is 'Planet vs Plastics'. We're doing our part with investments into our winery and vineyards, and ultimately the planet ...

 

☀️ SOLAR POWER. In 2017, we installed a large solar panel array in the back of the property which fully powers our main vineyard estate, the winery and two private residences on the property. In the hotter summer days, when our weeds are no longer in the field, the solar panel arrays provide shade and shelter for our small flock of St. Croix Sheep.

 

 

👩‍🌾 CERTIFIED ORGANIC. We're certified organic on two of our vineyards, and working towards certification of a third! We're proud to be certified through CCOF. Our wines from these vineyards are 'made from organically grown grapes'. 

 

🐑 SHEEP. In 2020, we introduced a small herd of St. Croix sheep on to the property. These sheep originate from the US Virgin Islands, and are wonderful and effective natural weedeaters in the dormant season. St. Croix sheep are a heritage breed, and are 'hair sheep'. This unique attribute means that they grow hair, not wool, which means we don't need to shear them! In the summer when they shed their hair (dreadlocks, actually!), they bring a very distinct island vibe to our vineyard!

 

 

🍾 BOTTLES. For some of our wines, we've shifted to lighter weight bottles, cutting down on shipping weights and emissions. We continue to drive down the produtcion and shipping impact of our wines, but utilizing lighter weight bottles with certain wines.

 

📦 PULP. We shifted from styrofoam to pulp packaging, to do our part in reducing the amount of this going into landfills. Pulp is a much more environmentally friendly packing material than stryofoam. Also, pulp doesn't make that annoying squeaky noise in your car when you're driving your wine home!

 

💧WATER. We're careful with our water usage, doing our best to reduce usage at every step in the vineyard and cellar. We utilize drip irrigation for our vines, and only irrigate if necessary. Each vine receives a very specific drip from an emitter located just inches away from the base of the vine. We typically irrigate at night to further reduce evaporative loss.

 

MONTICELLO | Napa Valley

 

Earth Day Official Site

 

California Certified Organic Farmers

 

 

 

The Corlea Trackway is an Iron Age trackway, near the village of Keenagh, in Ireland. It was constructed from oak planks in 148–147 BC. 

 

The exact purpose of the Corlea Trackway remains unclear. It's possible that large constructions like the Corlea Trackway were intended for entering the bog, potentially for ritual purposes, rather than merely for crossing it. 

 

Regardless of its intended use, the roadway was only functional for a few years. Over time, it was gradually engulfed by the rising bog and sank under its own weight, becoming buried within a decade or possibly even less. It remained preserved under the bog for two thousand years.

 

 

 

Corlea Trackway takes its name from 'Bóthar Chorr Liath' or 'The Danes Road'. 

 

Our own similar surname of Corley has some primary origins in nearby Mayo County, Ireland, specifically Ballintubber, near Galway, on the west coast of Ireland. 

 

In 2018, we took a family trip to visit paternal Irish 'Corley' origins in Galway, and maternal Scottish 'Crawford' origins in Falkirk. What a fun, family, historical trip to share with our kids! Slainthe!

 

 

Many years ago, our dad Jay Corley had traced a genealogical path back to Richard Corley, a settler in Virginia in the 17th century, who was given a land patent in the state 1675-1676. 

 

For our dad, this sparked an interest and link to a historical and familial farming connection to Virginia, which ultimately manifested itself 300 years later as MONTICELLO | Napa Valley. 

 

Slainthe!