Generational Shifts
“It’s a bit hippie dippy out here…but in a good way,” jokes Michael Frey, head of operations of Mariah Vineyards, referencing that same “back to the land movement” that initially inspired the region-wide regenerative approach to farming.
His wife, Nicole Dooling, second-generation proprietor and farmer whose parents, Dan and Vicki Dooling, established the family estate back in 1979, agrees but adds, “Mendocino is much more diverse in its agriculture, in terms of types of farming, and the vineyards are much more spread out. There’s more space and there’s a lot less chemical drift.” This is particularly true in the Mendocino Ridge sub-AVA, where her family’s Savory Institute Land-to-Market verified regenerative property sits at 2,400 feet elevation.
“Regenerative agriculture is what brought me back home,” says Dooling, who grew up off the grid among 30 acres of vines and today splits her time between working the farm and working as an ER trauma nurse in San Francisco.