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The Marsh Project

 
"Marsh Chardonnay" may sound like a home winemaking experiment that's gone horribly wrong, but actually it's a great tasting way to do some good.
 
The marsh is the Napa-Sonoma Marshes Wildlife Area (NSMWA), a little-known wildlife area in the San Francisco Bay Area's backyard that encompasses more than 13,000 acres. NSMWA provides important habitat for a variety of fish, wildlife and plant species, including 25 species of waterfowl and several threatened or endangered bird, plant, mammal and fish species.
 
This mix of tidal and seasonally flooded wetland, sloughs and rivers was altered by hay farms, which drained portions of the marsh, and by the development of salt evaporating ponds. Restoring these wetlands is critical to wildlife lovers since more than 82 percent of the Bay Area's original tidal wetlands system has already disappeared, according to California Department of Fish and Game (CDFG) estimates. CDFG's goal in restoring the marsh is to provide the public a beautiful place to enjoy hiking,bird watching and seasonal hunting.
 
The marsh abuts the Carneros District, on the southern edge of Napa and Sonoma counties. This famed winegrowing region is the home of Acacia Vineyard, one of several wineries that grows world-class Chardonnay and Pinot Noir in the area's shallow, dense clay soils that are cooled by winds off the San Pablo Bay.
 
To support the restoration, Acacia's winemaking team creates from Carneros District grapes a special wine called "Acacia Marsh Chardonnay," which is sold exclusively at the winery. Proceeds from the sale of this wine go into a special trust fund called Wines for Wildlife™, which is dedicated to the improvement of the NSMWA.
 
The Marsh Chardonnay is just one way Acacia is partnering with CDFG. In 2001, Acacia Vineyard employees planted black walnut and coastal oak trees and a row of wild rose bushes at the end of Buchli Station Road, off Las Amigas Road, in Napa County. This public entryway into NSMWA is just minutes from downtown Napa. The oaks and bushes will form a "living fence" that provides cover and food for the expanding wildlife community around the marsh. To help these young plants flourish, Acacia also donated and installed a drip irrigation line.
 
CDFG has a long list of marsh restoration needs and, beyond donating the proceeds from the Marsh Chardonnay, Acacia will also contribute its employees' time to complete those projects.
 
"We are very pleased that Acacia Vineyard is our neighbor and has adopted the marsh as its friend and partner," says Jim Swanson, Senior Wildlife Biologist with the CDFG. "Their support provides resources that we just don't have and will certainly speed up the development and restoration of the wildlife area."
 
More about Marsh Chardonnay
Related Article about the Marsh Project
 

 

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