Sustainable Winegrowing

In 2008 the oversupply of Sauvignon Blanc coupled with the financial crisis lead to trialing shaking to remove berries in New Zealand for the very first time. A few years later, the New Zealand Winegrowers Society funded a three-year grant to test the impacts of shaking on dropping fruit, wine quality, and botrytis. Mark Allen of Allen Vineyard Advisory explains that because shaking the vine four to six weeks after fruit set does cause some damage to the canopy and berries, pathologists assumed that the shaken vines would have a higher incidence of botrytis. They were surprised that they did not. In fact, the botrytis levels were markedly less in the shaken vines than the control. Trials have found that shaking reduces botrytis at harvest by at least 50 percent plus the cost is significantly less than dropping fruit. With increased resistance to chemical controls, good wine quality, and cost efficiency, shaking shows a lot of promise.

• 1: Bunch Rot with Larry Bettiga (podcast)
• Bunch Rot Disease Management
• Botrytis Bunch Rot UC Pest Management Guidelines
• Mark Allen | [email protected]
• Mechanical Shaking for Rot Reduction
• SIP Certified
• Vineyard Team Educational Scholarship

Subscribe wherever you listen so you never miss an episode on the latest science and research with the Sustainable Winegrowing Podcast. Since 1994, Vineyard Team has been your resource for workshops and field demonstrations, research, and events dedicated to the stewardship of our natural resources.

Learn more at www.vineyardteam.org.

The 2020 pandemic showed many brands how social media can be an important means of communication. Heather Daenitz of Craft & Cluster helps wines brands tell their grape to glass story with photography and social media. Keeping up with latest trends and algorithms can be challenging. At the end of the day, Instagram wants to keep people on the platform as long as possible. If you have good content the algorithm will show your posts to more people, benefiting both your brand awareness and Instagram. A few years ago, a common tactic was to post multiple times a day. Today, it is more important to post less frequently with more intention. Social media is a great way to share a brands values and to diversify both marketing channels.

• 4/22/21 Social Media & Sustainability Online Workshop
• 85: It's Time for New Wine Sales Strategies
• 83: Sustainability: An Advantage in any Market
• 82: Getting to Know Your Wine Customer
• Coastal Tractor
• Craft & Cluster
• Craft & Cluster Instagram
• SIP Certified
• State of the Wine Consumer 2021: Top 5 Trends for 2021
• Vineyard Team Educational Scholarship
• Wine Customer Segments and How to Talk SIP with Them

Subscribe on Google Play, iHeartRADIO, iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher, TuneIn, or wherever you listen so you never miss an episode on the latest science and research with the Sustainable Winegrowing Podcast. Since 1994, Vineyard Team has been your resource for workshops and field demonstrations, research, and events dedicated to the stewardship of our natural resources.

Learn more at www.vineyardteam.org.

The small Priorat region in Spain has a fascinating history dating back to the Moors in the 8th century, to the birth of its wine production for a local monastery in the 1100s to the near complete devastation of its vineyards by phylloxera in the late 19th century. Replanting began in earnest in the 1950s and top reviews by Robert Parker in the 2000 helped solidify this area as a top wine region in Spain.

Local Perinet Winemaker Antoni Sanchez-Ortiz notes how years of abandonment has lead nature reestablish its place among the vines, hazelnut, olives, and forest. To maintain this balance of nature and winemaking, the winery has established an ESG (Environmental, Social, Governance) initiative. The lack of electricity means that current production relies on generators. Perinet's Environmental project is to convert the property to 100 percent solar power. Socially, they provide a workplace that takes responsibility for their footprint, an organization their staff can feel proud to work for. They take Governance personally, becoming a brand that leads the way, setting an example of what the rest of the region can do.

• 33: Sustainable, Lake Friendly Farming in Michigan with WaterFire Vineyards
• Grape Phylloxera UC Pest Management Guidelines
• In Search of the Best Wines from Priorat
• Perinet
• SIP Certified
• Suterra
• Vineyard Team Educational Scholarship

Subscribe on Google Play, iHeartRADIO, iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher, TuneIn, or wherever you listen so you never miss an episode on the latest science and research with the Sustainable Winegrowing Podcast. Since 1994, Vineyard Team has been your resource for workshops and field demonstrations, research, and events dedicated to the stewardship of our natural resources.

Learn more at www.vineyardteam.org.

The resource concentration hypothesis looks at how the advent of modern agriculture as monoculture created an environment where pests can grow faster because their resource, the crop, is more prevalent. Biodiversity is fundamental for pest management and Daniel Paredes, Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of California Davis, in the department of Wildlife Fish and Conservation Biology, is studying how sustaining natural habitat around vineyards can increase biodiversity.

Promotion of natural habitat impacts vineyards in two different ways; 1) the promotion of natural enemies and 2) by diminishing the pest population. Speaking about his latest research project in Spain, Daniel says, "At harvest, we found pest outbreaks increased four-fold in simplified, vineyard-dominated landscapes compared to complex landscapes in which vineyards are surrounded by semi-natural habitats." This study shows that conserving and restoring natural vegetation creates a more stable environment.

• Ceres Imaging
• Diverging Effects of Landscape Factors and Inter-Row Management on the Abundance of Beneficial and Herbivorous Arthropods in Andalusian Vineyards (Spain)
• Effects of vegetation management intensity on biodiversity and ecosystem services in vineyards: A meta‐analysis
• Landscape Simplification Increases Vineyard Pest Outbreaks and Insecticide Use
• SIP Certified
• Tillage intensity or landscape features: What matters most for wild bee diversity in vineyards?
• UC Davis Study: How Landscape Simplification Affects Pest Outbreaks
• Vineyard Team Events

Subscribe on Google Play, iHeartRADIO, iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher, TuneIn, or wherever you listen so you never miss an episode on the latest science and research with the Sustainable Winegrowing Podcast. Since 1994, Vineyard Team has been your resource for workshops and field demonstrations, research, and events dedicated to the stewardship of our natural resources.

Learn more at www.vineyardteam.org.

While grape production does not require extensive water use and the majority of vineyards in the Pacific North West are drip irrigated, drought conditions in recent years have led growers to seek more efficiencies to reduce water use. Pete Jacoby, Professor of Crops and Soil Sciences at Washington State University knows that in a traditional drip irrigated vineyard, water is lost through evaporation plus plants loose about 90 percent of the water they take up through transportation. Most sub-surface micro-irrigation is done with buried lines which are easily clogged in fine silty loam soils or damaged by rodents. So, he is partnering with commercial grower sto test a different sub-surface irrigation system - vertically placed PVC pipe.

By placing pipes at one, two, three, and four feet, the experiment tested water reduction from 60 percent all the way down to 15 percent of what was typically delivered through above ground irrigation. Researchers discovered that this changed the vine root architecture from 18 inches all the way down to two and three feet. Plus, grape quality could be sustained with significantly lower water applications. Using these promising results, Pete is now testing white varieties and how sub-surface micro-irrigation impacts nutrient management.

• 63: Evaluate and Maintain Your Irrigation System (podcast)
• Advancing Water Use Efficiency in Vineyards with Sub-surface Micro-Irrigation Techniques
• Assessing Impacts of Direct Root-Zone Irrigation on Grapevine Physiology
• Ceres Imaging
• Direct Root Zone Watering (video)
• Irrigation Best Management Practices
• New irrigation system can cut vineyard water usage by 35 percent
• Pete Jacoby
• SIP Certified

Subscribe on Google Play, iHeartRADIO, iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher, TuneIn, or wherever you listen so you never miss an episode on the latest science and research with the Sustainable Winegrowing Podcast. Since 1994, Vineyard Team has been your resource for workshops and field demonstrations, research, and events dedicated to the stewardship of our natural resources.

Learn more at www.vineyardteam.org.

Once a vineyard manger has found disease there is often not much to be done, they are merely mitigating loss. The Lab at Cornell has launched several grape disease sensing technology projects to study early detection and how to use that information. Leading the research is Katie Gold, assistant professor of plant pathology and plant microbe-biology at Cornell AgriTech. The programs utilize imaging spectroscopy (also known as hyperspectral imaging) deployed at all scales, from autonomous rovers to spacecraft with the goal to detect disease earlier when management is going to be both minimal and successful. The latest research includes partnering with NASA to look at how dust currents can move pathogens across the globe to building autonomous robots to detect downy mildew, powdery mildew, and to aide pruning decisions.

• 18: Next Steps in Grape Sampling (Podcast)
• Cornell AgriTech
• Grant to support research into grape downy mildew
• Katie Gold
• SIP Certified
• Scientists track plant diseases riding across globe with dust
• Twitter | @kaitlinmgold

Subscribe on Google Play, iHeartRADIO, iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher, TuneIn, or wherever you listen so you never miss an episode on the latest science and research with the Sustainable Winegrowing Podcast. Since 1994, Vineyard Team has been your resource for workshops and field demonstrations, research, and events dedicated to the stewardship of our natural resources.

Learn more at www.vineyardteam.org.

Wildfires and COVID impacted legislation as much as they impacted wine production this year. Lauren Noland-Hajik, Attorney and Lobbyist at Soares & Conway coves some of the major changes seen in 2020 and what is coming up in 2021. The March shutdown of the legislature due to COVID resulted in the handing off of power from the legislature off to governor to make executive orders. This is a scenario that has not been seen in a long time and was still in place as of the end of 2020.

With the extended tax deadline, the legislature passed baby budget and filled in details in August. As a result, many programs were gutted. New programs and one time funds were taken off the table including programs like upgrading diesel engines, healthy soils program, and air quality plans that help agriculture.

Lauren covers new and upcoming policies including how ag can be a solution for wildfires; a bill to create consistent training for M95 mask use; AB685 defining a COVID outbreak and the notification procedure; SB1159 defining where COVID cases are presumed to be contracted; SB1383 to expand protected family leave; and Prop15 impacting property taxes.

In 2021 Lauren anticipates more bills on employee protection, legislation around recycling, and the codification of CalOSHA emergency regulations into bills.

Podcast

• 76: Regulations that will Affect Your Wine Business this Year (podcast)
• Kahn, Soares, & Conway, LLP
• Lauren Noland-Hajik | [email protected]
• Official California Legislative Information
• SIP Certified

Subscribe on Google Play, iHeartRADIO, iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher, TuneIn, or wherever you listen so you never miss an episode on the latest science and research with the Sustainable Winegrowing Podcast. Since 1994, Vineyard Team has been your resource for workshops and field demonstrations, research, and events dedicated to the stewardship of our natural resources.

Learn more at www.vineyardteam.org.

In 1972 Paul Kalemkiarian's father purchased a liquor store and began featuring two of his top wine picks each month. Customers, appreciative of the direction in wine selection, would ask to have wine shipped to them and the Wine of the Month Club was born. The intent of the club remains the same, to help customers select a good wine for the value, not to sell any wine. After sampling over 100,000 wines, Paul knows you need to taste a wine to know if it is good.

Having a sustainable business means being able to go to market through different routes so consumers can buy at varying price points. Paul reflects on shipping challenges from reporting to taxes; misconceptions about the quality of wine coming from the bulk market; and the slow road to pivot from on premise sales to online post COVID.

As Paul says, "Wine is an ethereal fruit, expressive of where it is grown unlike any other fruit," and the industry can help consumers experience wine in a new way.

• 82: Getting to Know Your Wine Customer | Brandi Moody (Podcast)
• 85: It's Time for New Wine Sales Strategies | Paul Mabray (Podcast)
• Joanne DePuy and the Judgment of Paris | Wine Talks with Paul K (Podcast)
• Paul K | [email protected]
• SIP Certified
• The Man. George Taber, only journalist to show at the Judgement of Paris | Wine Talks with Paul K (Podcast)
• Wineofthemonthclub.com
• Wine Talks with Paul K

Subscribe on Google Play, iHeartRADIO, iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher, TuneIn, or wherever you listen so you never miss an episode on the latest science and research with the Sustainable Winegrowing Podcast. Since 1994, Vineyard Team has been your resource for workshops and field demonstrations, research, and events dedicated to the stewardship of our natural resources.

Learn more at www.vineyardteam.org.

In mid-April 2020, the grape market saw its highest bulk inventory at 23 million gallons. By November that quantity had reduced significantly to 8.5 million gallons. Audra Cooper, Central Coast Grape Broker and Partner at Turrentine Brokerage explains how the grape market has been on a roller coaster throughout 2020. At the beginning of the year, most varieties and regions in California were in drastic oversupply. The onset of COVID lead to pantry loading as people increased wine consumption at home. Summer fires reduced fruit supply, skyrocketed bulk wine sales, and leave a lot of questions around what the quality of the 2020 vintage will be. Although many wine brands learned proactive techniques to manage smoke taint over the past few years, the industry still lacks standardization in regards to smoke taint testing.

• 73: Smoke Impact on Wine (Podcast)
• 65: Winegrape Brokering and Todays Grape Market (Podcast)
• Audra Cooper
• SIP Certified
• Smoke Impact in Grapes and Wine | ETS Laboratories
• Smoke Taint: How Much Smoke is Too Much? | Craig Macmillan, PhD
• Turrentine Brokerage

Subscribe on Google Play, iHeartRADIO, iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher, TuneIn, or wherever you listen so you never miss an episode on the latest science and research with the Sustainable Winegrowing Podcast. Since 1994, Vineyard Team has been your resource for workshops and field demonstrations, research, and events dedicated to the stewardship of our natural resources.

Learn more at www.vineyardteam.org.

The Spotted Lanternfly (SLF) is the newest agricultural invasive species in the United States. Originally from Asia, this insect feeds on plant sap from a broad range of hosts. Dr. Heather Leach, Extension Associate at the Department of Entomology at Penn State University is focused on researching this insect and educating the public on how to manage the pest. Although it appears that SLF has been in the United States for some years, growers are now seeing adverse effects and report extreme vine decline and death.

A major part of Heather's research is around how to manage SLF. While a large number of insecticides are effective, the challenge is that population's levels are highest during harvest. This restricts the insecticide use to products with low residuals and requires more applications. Alternative management trials with some promise include exclusion netting, cannon sprayers, building a border with insecticide treated netting, and determining if there are predators already in the United States.

• Heather Leach
• Lanternfly Study Yields Insight into Insecticide, Biopesticide Effectiveness
• Penn State Extension Spotted Lanternfly
• SIP Certified
• Spotted Lanternfly Frequently Asked Questions
• StopSLF.org
• Sustainable Ag Expo
• Using Traps for Spotted Lanternfly Management

Subscribe on Google Play, iHeartRADIO, iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher, TuneIn, or wherever you listen so you never miss an episode on the latest science and research with the Sustainable Winegrowing Podcast. Since 1994, Vineyard Team has been your resource for workshops and field demonstrations, research, and events dedicated to the stewardship of our natural resources.

Learn more at www.vineyardteam.org.