Nearly 40 years ago, when Jeff Gargiulo was farming tomatoes, he introduced Integrated Pest Management as a long-term solution to reduce the need for pesticide use. At Gargiulo Vineyards in Napa Valley, which produces some of the most acclaimed expressions of cabernet sauvignon in the region, he employs the same technique and minimal-intervention approach in the vines today, tracking insect counts and ensuring they remain below thresholds that could harm vines.
“We live on the property; my grandkids go in the back and pick grapes off the vines—that’s the kind of operation [we’re running],” says Jeff, who, along with his wife Valerie Boyd, lives part of the year in Naples and is a founding trustee of the Naples Winter Wine Festival. “Any sustainability really starts with the land and how it’s treated over a long period of time.”
In an industry quick to attach labels, sustainability can blur into jargon. For these vintners, it means a long-term commitment to the land. Kelley and Jim Bailey think about their Knights Bridge Winery in Sonoma as a generational project. They plan in 100-year increments to ensure the land stands strong for their great-great-grandchildren.
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naples vintners sustainable winery practices knights bridge winery
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naples vintners sustainable winery practices knights bridge baileys
Kelley and Jim Bailey, of Knights Bridge Winery, employ organic and sustainable farming practices, limiting water and fertilizer use across their Sonoma estate.
Farming organically is the baseline for the part-time Neapolitans. Since the 2024 vintage, the family-owned estate has been certified organic.
The winemaking team worked with California’s Backen & Backen Architecture to design a winery and tasting room built into the hillside, with 15,000 square feet of caves that naturally regulate temperature and reduce energy use. “Sustainability is in every part of what we consider, from designing and planting a vineyard block all the way to growing and harvesting that fruit year after year,” explains vineyard manager Josh Clark. His team analyzes vine tissue to measure nutrient levels and applies fertilizers only as needed, preferring cover crops to replenish nitrogen and organic matter naturally. “We’re constantly meeting new challenges with an open mindset and a willingness to learn.”
Precision extends to irrigation, with water delivered selectively to blocks that need it, based on soil and site conditions. Rather than flooding rows, spaghetti- thin drip emitters deliver small, targeted amounts of water to the plants’ root zones. These emitters are replaced as the vines mature and their root systems expand. “This allows us to keep the vineyard block as close to 100% in production as possible while not having wine production suffer,” he says.
Photography by Zach Stovall
Courtesy Knights Bridge Winery
Courtesy Bodega 202
Courtesy Knights Bridge Winery
Courtesy Bodega 202
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Courtesy Bodega 202
Courtesy Gargiulo Vineyards
The latest plantings also incorporate overhead misting for hot days late in the season, when the humidity is low and clusters can dehydrate to the point of losing nearly a quarter of the crop. “The conventional thought was to irrigate into and during a heat wave, but that really doesn’t protect the vines and fruit the way misting does, and misting uses much less water per acre.”
While water scarcity defines concerns in California, across the Atlantic Ocean, wineries face a different test. Bodega 202, founded in Spain’s Rioja Alavesa by Naples residents Francis and Kathleen Rooney, sits among high-altitude vineyards rooted in limestone soils and shaped by dramatic day-to-night temperature swings. Last year’s harvest brought one of the region’s most intense pathogen seasons in decades. Downy mildew swept through Rioja, destroying entire plots—even those farmed conventionally with chemicals.
Winemaker and agricultural engineer Luis Güemes, who strives to showcase the vineyard’s purest voice, triumphed through a clever combination of natural methods. He used natural drying agents like orange peel oil, applied copper-based organic treatments ahead of forecast rainfall, and maintained strong air circulation in the canopy, keeping the vineyard free of the disease rapidly spreading throughout Rioja. The grapes were not only healthy but maintained their quality.
Despite the challenges of last harvest, the season came with a major milestone for the 12-year-old boutique winery: The vineyard received its EU organic certification following a three-year conversion process. “At every step we take, we ask ourselves how we can make it more sustainable,” Luis says.
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naples vintners sustainable winery practices backen and backen
The Baileys’ Backen & Backen Architecture–designed winery and tasting room sits beneath a hill, where 15,000 square feet of caves help regulate temperature.
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naples vintners sustainable winery practices knights bridge
From Sonoma’s rolling vineyards to Rioja’s high-elevation slopes, Naples vintners take different paths toward the same goal: cultivating vineyards that endure for generations.