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RayLen Solar Vineyard

Wednesday, January 13th, 2010

North Carolina is slowly building a very respectable wine country, located predominantly in the Yadkin valley north of Charlotte. We recently had the chance to pay an educational visit to RayLen vineyards based out of Mocksville. GT has always seen vineyards as much more than wine, energy environments if you will and RayLen is another winery backing that up, with an awesome solar install. Check out the video below for a quick look. Note: the muscadine (seeds) at the beginning is an indigenous grape to NC, which reportedly has up to 5 times as much resveratrol as other red grapes.

My facts aren’t quite right in the video. Click below to get the full spec on their setup.

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Tags: Environment, kWh, RayLen, renewable energy, Solar, Solar energy, Vineyard, Yadkin valley
Posted in Energy, Sustainable, Wine | View Comments

2009 GrapeThinking

Thursday, December 31st, 2009

Amazing year!! After blogging and consulting since early ’07, GT’s ready to spin-off a real product. Pretty cool feeling… a product that connects us to the source… the earth, each other, the force inside is all. And what better way to connect than with some delicious elixirs from around the world!!

We set a few goals a year ago:

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Tags: About, elixir
Posted in Business, Lifestyle | View Comments

Taste Palace

Wednesday, October 14th, 2009

Found an amazing place right outside of Siena where they grow sangiovese, olives, fruits, vegetables, herbs, nuts… all in balance or promiscuo as they say. Not a vineyard, not a farm… I call it a taste palace, maybe there’s a better name out there. I might work with them to install a major solar setup and some biohydrogen generating algae ponds. In my dreams, right?

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Tags: algae, almonds, apples, apricots, basil, biohydrogen, cabbage, carrots, celery, chestnuts, figs, Japanese medlar, olives, onions, peaches, pears, peppers, plums, pomegranate, rosemary, salivia, Sangiovese, Solar energy, thyme, tomatoes, walnuts
Posted in Design, Energy, Environment, Family, Food, Health, Sustainable | View Comments

Visit to Vinci

Monday, October 5th, 2009

I had a chance to visit Vinci, Italia this past weekend, the hometown of one of GrapeThinking’s great inspirations, Leonardo Da Vinci. Below, I share my thoughts and sights on his balanced way of thinking and being, leading to unmatched accomplishments in both the arts and sciences. Everything he did was in brilliant harmony, whether it was the science of painting or the art of engineering and exploring human anatomy. He was a true master of the mind… and body.

My theory is he used his infinite curiosity as a feedback loop to direct his body, hands, and eyes to work and operate in a balanced fashion (ambidexterity), which resulted in greater structural and energetic harmony between the two sides of his mind. This allowed him to have clear and simple insights into innovation…. lol, I know. Just being there filled me with a type of inspirational energy I’d never felt before.

Odd Art Plaza outside of Museum