I took a road trip this weekend to visit my daughter in Oregon for my birthday and my Gen X son did most of the driving (carefully disguised flying is how I describe it). it allowed me to catch up on reading as the last thing I wanted to do was glance at the road especially as he was carefully threading our way way between semi trucks at 80 miles an hour. I happened to be going through the new 25th Annversary issue of Wine & Spirits and came across an article/survey written by Gilian Handelman which looked at how sustainablle, organic and other earth-friendly practices are being implemented in West Coast vineyards. The article covers several differerent areas where vineyards have made significant progress to treating the earth more gently.
SHEEP WEEDING
According to the article at the beginning of the last decade of the 20th century there was only one vineyard that used sheep to handle weed management. That was Robert Mondavi who had about 500 sheep roaming the rows before bud break chomping up the grasses, weeds and fertilizing along the way. In 2007 the "herds for hire" has grown to a population of 2000 ewes serving 20 clients. The favored breed is called Olde English Babydoll Southdown that is only 24 inches at the shoulder which allows them to inhabit the vineyard throughout the growing season since they are too short to reach the fruit but can still hedge and munch off suckers as well as mow. They are efficient workers and significantly decrease labor and use of herbicides.
SPEAKING OF STUFF WE SPRAY
One of the most impressive changes is the virtual elimination of the usage of soil fumigant, Methyl Bromide in the vineyards of Sonoma County over the last 20 years. In 1995 a total of 455,000 lbs was used to treat 1200 acres, contolling nemotodes, fungus and phylloxera: nearly 400 pounds per acre. Twenty years later the author reports total usage in 2005 was about a thousand times less with only 481 lbs. applied to 11 acres total.
ORO GREEN
Seemingly the Oregon winegrowers have made a far greater commitment to organic vineyard production with just under half as many total acres (3622) as California (8370) grown according to that standard. According to Oregon Agricultural statistics in 2006 there were only 15600 acres planted in the state which translates into 23% either certified Organic, Biodynamic or LIVE (Low Input Viticulture and Enology) There are many more vineyards sustainable produced there that could be certified (according to my notes from Oreon Pinot Camp 2007)
More and more we are seeing moves to sustainable agriculture and reducing dependence on fossil fuels. The final statistic, the number of wineries using biodiesel in the vineyards shows only 19 out of 4207 US wineries augment there dependence on straight diesel fuel with a vegetable oil blend. I will be surprised if this number doesn't grow 20 times in the next few years.
My question is: Do you consider if a wine is sustainably produced when you make a decision to acquire it?
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