California's Honig Vineyard and Winery, Gallo Family Vineyards, and Bonterra Vineyards have each developed their own sustainable winegrowing practices. Aside from using animals (golden retrievers, falcons, and chickens, respectively) for different forms of pest control, here are some of the other sustainable practices they've adopted (courtesy of the Wine Institute's Sustainable Winegrowing Practices newsletter).

Honig Vineyard and Winery

• Installing a solar system for 100% of winery energy needs, diminishing dependence on fossil fuels
• Controlling vineyard weeds with no herbicides
• Using organic fertilizers to enrich soil
• Using cover crops to return organic matter and nutrients to the soil and eliminate erosion
• Planting hedgerows to draw insect pests such as blue green sharpshooter out of the vineyards
• Erecting bat boxes, bluebird houses, owl houses, and hawk perches to help reduce insect and rodent populations
• Recycling solid waste and conserving water in the vineyard and winery

Gallo Family Vineyards

• Installing owl and kestrel hawk boxes to attract these natural predators for more rodent control
• Maintaining populations of beneficial insects that feed on insect pests, reducing pesticide use
• Using natural weed control strategies such as sheep and goats to feed on weeds at various ranches
• Planting cover crops between the vine rows to enrich soil, prevent erosion, and provide a habitat for beneficial insects.
• Setting aside thousands of acres for conservation easements
• Working with other entities to provide habitat for rookeries for snowy egret and blue heron in Merced County
• Cooperating with the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service to reintroduce the riparian brush rabbit, an endangered mammal, to the San Joaquin River area * Planting thousands of oak trees on Gallo vineyards throughout the state

Bonterra Vineyards

• Birdhouses placed to attract bluebirds and swallows, which consume unwanted insects
• Chicken coops with free-range chickens that eat cutworms and other insects
• Soil management utilizing cultivation to regulate competition for nutrients and relieve soil compaction
• Biodiversity that requires both plants and animals for success
• IPM practices, including nectar-rich plants to attract beneficial insects that protect vineyards from pest infestation
• Habitat divides with a variety of native wildflowers and other plants to attract beneficial insects
• Cover crops such as yellow mustard that are grown and plowed into the soil
• Compost to lighten the typically heavy clay soil found in Mendocino County