SOL 2017

Behind the Bottle

It's almost impossible to talk about Michael Gindl without talking about his animals. The 30 Scottish Highland cattle provide all the manure for Michael, are cold resistant and are happy to hang out in the snow in the winter. The 20 Breton dwarf sheep help to graze the vineyards; they eat the bottom vine leaves, but once 50% of the fruit starts ripening, they would start eating the berries and need to be moved to other vineyards. The horses help mowing and rotating cover crops. As Michael rarely opens the soil – "healthy soil doesn't need to be opened" – the horses are not used for ploughing but help with spraying. Michael hopes to ...