Why Matchbook? As a farm kid growing up in the late 1950´s and early 1960´s John Giguiere was a confirmed pyromaniac starting various things on fire such as his father´s wheat field. At one point, fearing total ruin from his kids burning him out of the house and farm, his father took them to the city jail for an hour stay to impress upon his brother and him the futility of their fascination with fire. John and his brother answered at a later date by graduating from random fires to the launching of rockets which often blew up at some stage of the its journey resulting in more random fires and a call to the local fire department for help.They eventually grew out of this fascination with the "Matchbook" but still have fond memories of the power they possessed.
Appellation
Located in the northwestern portion of Yolo County, the Dunnigan Hills AVA encompasses 69,000 acres with roughly 1,300 acres hosting vines. The summer days are hot, averaging between 95°F and 98°F, but at night the temperatures cool to between 55°F and 65°F. This tremendous drop in temperature allows the grapes to cool, which preserves the grapes' natural acidity. The soil composition is a gravelly loam in the upper hills, whereas in the valleys it is silty or chalky clay loam over sandstone. Dunnigan Hills is home to only one winery, Matchbook.
Sustainability
Sustainable winegrape growing is an approach to working the land that keeps in mind the 3 E’s: increasing the quality of the Environment; protecting the health and safety of Employees; and maintaining Economic viability. Some of our sustainable farming practices include:
BUILDING HEALTHY SOILS by applying organic compost to the vineyard and sowing cover crops, which break up the soils and allow microorganisms to supply nutrients to the soil.
WATER CONSERVATION by employing efficient irrigating systems and using deficit irrigation.
INTEGRATED PEST MAGEMENT by encouraging natural predators, using predacious insects to control pests that damage the vines, using leaf pulling to control bunch rot vs. spraying, and applying safer pesticides and limiting its use to times when pests threaten the economic viability of the crop.
DIAM Corks
The DIAMANT Process results in completely neutral cork closures, meaning consumers experience only the aromas and flavours that the winemaker intended. These closures are proven to be 99.8 percent free of damaging pollutants at delivery as the process eliminates over 150 of common pollutants directly from the raw cork material.
To further illustrate Matchbook’s commitment to the environment, DIAM closures are used for all their wines. Recently, DIAM process optimization allowed to further reduce Carbon Footprint impact by 12%. These closures use a chemical-free process, are recyclable, support a renewable resource in the cork tree, have achieved Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certification for their commitment to protecting a Mediterranean Ecosystem, and promote the economy by employing more than 30,000 workers every year.