Surprises at Parducci Winery

May 15, 2010 by Diane Davis

Parducci Winery in Ukiah, CA is another one of those wineries that have a piece of my heart just because of the memories from 10+ years ago there.  It was another of the wineries that we shared with our now adult children and going back there I see the ghosts of my babies as we enjoyed our visit.

However, this time I was there to visit some other babies, baby chicks and baby ducks.  After seeing the video clip on Facebook, I HAD to go visit there and photograph.  So when I showed up today at the invitation of Cindy Molchany, I was so excited to see them.

We went to the garage where the chicks and ducklings were staying until they get ready to be let out.  The chicks will stay there for a few more weeks.  The ducklings have to stay until they get their feathers.  I learned today that duckling  down isn’t waterproof so they can’t be in water without a mom to teach them how to dry out.  As soon as they get their feathers, they will be moved to a new home with water so they can learn to swim before they are finally graduated to the big pond with the other ducks.  Also accompanying us on our visit was the winery dog, Mattie.  She is so old and so sweet.

Parducci is a bio-dynamic winery and they use chickens and ducks as natural pest control.  In addition, they have created a wetlands from the water used in the winery.  There is a whole system of tanks and filters to clean the water.  There are also bee hives filled with the buzzing sound of working bees.

The wetlands was absolutely beautiful and I captured way too many images- here’s a few of them.  The wetlands are open, so next time you want to go somewhere special for a picnic, you should consider the Parducci wetlands.

Our visit ended in the tasting room, again walking down memory lane as we talked about the wines that were there before vs what is there now.  It was a great visit- and a big thanks to Cindy, Dann and the rest of the staff.

Go visit the Gallery of Images and enjoy.