Leveraging Nature

We’re excited to announce that Catoctin Breeze is now 100% powered by the sun (as long as the sun in shining)! In the sunniest months, we have the ability to generate enough electricity to not only sustain the winery, but to also “sell” the surplus energy back to the grid, which we happily receive monthly payments in return.

Our winery is designed to use minimal amounts of electricity to begin with, thanks to the ingenuity of my father during its initial design. Our cellar is completely below grade and insulated by the earth. The cellar is only cooled for 6 months out of the year to keep it at or below 55 degrees. Once we do kick on the AC, it will be summer, and the 12-15 hours of sunlight we receive each day will generate more than enough electricity to cool our buildings. A cool cellar also allows us to do less to the wine to protect it. Cold cellars help curb oxidation, and more importantly, microbial growth. Huge bonus.

As far as winemaking goes, we use concrete tanks for fermentation. We have the option to use temperature control to cool the tanks during fermentation. This option is rarely used thanks to the natural insulating properties of the gravel and sand that our concrete our tanks are composed of.

When we cold stabilize our white wines, we don’t put the wine in tanks with cooling jackets on them – this consumes a significant amount of energy. Instead, we wheel the barrels outside for a few weeks each winter when temperatures are in the 20’s, letting mother nature stabilize the wines for us. Additionally, we want to let our wines sleep. If we keep waking them up and moving them around, they will never come into their own. Less is more.

Lastly, wine is an agricultural product. As farmers and stewards of this little plot of land, it is our responsibility to operate with the health of the environment in mind. Additionally, having a resourceful mentality in everything we do is key if we want this farm to be in better shape 100 years from now.