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Something missing from Sustainable Winegrowing seminar

Posted on August 5, 2015 by Sonoma Valley Sun

Exclusive to the Sonoma Sun by Teri Shore

The Sonoma County Winegrape Commission held its 15th Annual Sustainable Winegrowing Field Day on July 31. The event was free and open to growers, wineries, and the public. I attended the meeting along with Greenbelt Alliance board member Dee Swanhuyser.

While we appreciated that the event was free and open to the gowerers, wineries and the public — the topic of sustainability was not on the agenda.

While many important regulations and requirements were covered, such as worker safety, and how to apply pesticides to vineyards without polluting waterways, it seemed strange to me that the “sustainability field day” didn’t cover sustainability. Nor was it a field day. It was a conference-style workshop at the Shone Farms building near Forestville

I learned a lot, but it reminded me more of the wine industry trade events that I used to cover nearly 20 years when working as a writer for Sonoma-based Wine Business publications.

Here is the overview of the day’s program:

The conference began with an overview of trends and demand for sustainable wines focused on marketing and the development of a logo that could be used on wine labels. The sustainable self-certification process was covered during a question and answer period. The sustainable certification handbook was displayed and copies of the key elements of the program were available.

It is clear that the industry is invested in the process and believes that the program is truly a model for sustainability and moving the wine industry in the right direction. No metrics were provided to quantify the success of the program in increasing sustainability, but an annual report is due out later this year.

The rest of the session covered several issues of importance to winegrape growers including new safety regulations related to more stringent protections for workers applying pesticides. Rules for pesticide use near waterways and well heads were also covered. A major portion of the day was dedicated to reviewing the use and application of herbicides to control weeds with a focus on best approaches during a drought. It is clear vineyardist have many challenges in managing a monoculture crop.

The presentation by Andy Walker of U.C. Davis about disease resistant vine varieties touched indirectly on sustainability. An expert in his field for decades, Walker has been breeding vines to produce a variety of vine that is resistant to Pierce’s Disease and powdery mildew. Producing a disease resistant vine reduces or eliminates spraying of pesticides and fungicides for those diseases. It is a significant development, but a long ways from commercial production and acceptance in the wine industry.

The vine variety he developed is 94 to 97 percent vinifera, the preferred species for winemaking, but also contains a percentage of other varieties. He suggested that the grapes and wine made from these vines are likely to be used primarily for blending. However, at this point, the vines are not in commercial production nor are they being embraced by the wine industry, most likely due to concerns about wine quality.

However, this is an approach that the conservation community may want to encourage and support.

The Sonoma County Water Agency announced a new pilot program for vineyards and wineries for installing floating solar to provide on-site electricity generation. While it doesn’t address sustainable growing practices, the program seems like a good approach for overall sustainability and reduction of greenhouse gas emissions from vineyard and winery operations.

Teri Shore is the regional director of Greenbelt Alliance



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