Turning food scraps into fine wine

摘要

Compost from Restaurant Scraps Applied to 13 Vineyards. Vineyards in the heart of California's wine country, including Napa, Sonoma, El Dorado and Mendocino Counties, now use compost made with food scraps from some of San Francisco's finest restaurants to improve soil quality and grow better grapes for the production of fine wines. "We have to give back to the soil," says Linda Hale, Vineyard Supervisor for Madrone Vineyard at Domenici Ranch in Sonoma County. "The benefits that we will reap are incredible." "Giving back" is a primary goal of an unusual program that diverts kitchen trimmings, plate scrapings and other compostable material from fine restaurants, hotels, markets, delis and coffee shops. Over 1,400 food-related businesses and thousands of San Francisco residents provide food scraps and other compostable material as part of the program. These source materials create a very diverse feedstock that includes everything from crab shells and cantaloupe skins to steak bones and half-eaten sandwiches. The result is an especially rich compost, perfect for reconditioning soils after harvest.