Winegrowers are drilling down to create optimal soil and circumstances.
By Kathleen Willcox
Winemaking has always been a marriage — or, at times, a compromise — between art and science. In recent years though, the technological innovations available to those with the will and the means to implement them have proliferated, letting vintners shape their art with science.
It is not uncommon to encounter NASA-grade gadgets in gilded cellars around the world, from optical sorters that ensure only perfect grapes make it into the fermenter to Lalique crystal wine barrels.
Winegrowing is arguably under more pressure than ever, as early bud breaks, sudden spring frosts, searing summer temperatures, excess rain at the wrong time, prolonged droughts, hail storms in the summer, wildfire “seasons” and other unforeseen pests and pestilences make farming grapes for premium wine more challenging than ever.
Because we all know (forgive the old chestnut, please) great wine begins in the vineyard, growers are spending more and more time lavishing often individualized attention on their grapes. The form this attention takes varies considerably.
Mapping, Satellite, Sonar for Continuous Analysis
“We utilize technology to turn what used to be discrete analysis into continuous analysis,” says Silver Oak Cellars’ director of winemaking Nate Weis. Silver Oak has more than 400 acres of vineyards in Napa and Alexander valleys. “We used to dig soil pits so we could analyze the soil, but there would still be huge gaps in our understanding of what was happening in the soil.”
By using a suite of analytical tools (including ones offered by their new tech-farming partner Agtonomy), Weis says he can monitor soil and grape health, sap flow and leaf respiration.
“By understanding what’s going on in and around a vine — down to a micro-level — we understand how much nutrition and water a vine needs at any given moment,” he says. “It also lets us customize irrigation and nutrition, so the grapes develop uniformly even if they have very different needs.”
At Bouchaine Vineyards in Carneros, Calif., winemaker and president Chris Kajani also seeks an edge to farming their 87 acres of Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, Pinot Meunier and Pinot Gris (with a smattering of other grapes) with Cisco Industrial Asset Vision technology.
“We were given the opportunity to be a ‘living laboratory’ vineyard with Cisco’s Internet of Things sensors,” she recalls, explaining that these sensors let them visualize data about temperature, humidity, soil moisture and wind speed in specific areas of the vineyard. “This helps us dial in our vineyard practices so we can have an understanding of exactly how much of a given resource our vines need.”
Ultimately, Weis and Kajani say that the tech helps them stress the vines just enough to produce complex wines, with fewer resources used, from humans to water, tractors and inputs.
Using Technology to Upgrade Eco-Friendly Farming Practices
Brands associated with extremely progressive sustainable farming techniques may not be the first that pop to mind when it comes to using tech — aren’t all of those hippies off-the-grid Luddites? — but Joseph Brinkley, senior director of regenerative organic development at Bonterra Organic Estates says that relying on technology lets them meet their sustainability goals.
In addition to walking the 850 acres of Regenerative Organic Certified grapes weekly to check fertility, pests, diseases and water needs during the growing season, the team conducts comprehensive soil health sampling across all the vineyards.
“By combining annual soil samples with real-time information using Agrology’s technology, which measures soil carbon and microbial activity, we can better track seasonal fluctuations and long-term trends, letting us tailor management practices for specific blocks,” Brinkley explains.
By dialing in regenerative farming techniques for the needs of each block, Bonterra vineyards have measured, on average, 74.54% more microbial activity when compared to that of a conventionally farmed vineyard, according to Agrology’s data. Microbial activity translates to healthier soils, which in turn creates healthier grapes and larger harvests, Brinkley says.
The winery’s research with Agrology also showed that soil water content was higher and canopy temperatures were lower in regeneratively farmed vineyards than in conventionally farmed ones.
At Palmaz Vineyards in Napa, the team fuses organic and biodynamic farming techniques with technology created by co-vintner and Chief Operating Officer Christian Palmaz, who also has a background in computer science.
Vineyard Infrared Growth Optical Recognition (VIGOR) measures and adjusts vineyard conditions based on data gathered twice weekly by a Cessna aircraft outfitted with an infrared camera that does everything from measure chlorophyll levels in grape leaves to soil moisture and grape ripening levels across 64 acres with 46 distinct vineyard blocks.
Palmaz analyzes the data VIGOR gathers and directs the team on the small adjustments he wants them to make, row to row, with the goal of creating consistently ripe grapes. The changes often require quite a bit of field work: two team members are tasked with just tweaking irrigation levels, vine to vine, on specially equipped water emitters twice per week.
“The dream is to farm the individual as a group,” he explains. “Our system farms each vine individually with the goal of finding uniform levels of ripeness and health at the end of the growing system. VIGOR also helps us flag problems early.”
If they’ve adjusted water and other issues, but they still see vines struggling to flourish, the vineyard crew can go out and visit that individual vine and troubleshoot pest or insect issues. Since rolling out VIGOR in 2016, they’ve reduced water use by 23%. All of this time and tech sounds expensive, but Palmaz says it’s actually quite limited.
“Putting the systems in place was not inexpensive, but now we spend $15,000 or so on images that feed into VIGOR. I honestly wouldn’t farm without technology at this point,” he says. “It lets us use our resources more responsibly, which saves us money and creates a better product in the end. If we’re charging $200 for a bottle of Cabernet, we have an obligation to use every resource available to make the best product we can.”
Regenerative Farming and the Art of Observation
Others have backed away from technology in a bid for ever-greater wine.
“My belief now is that technology won’t solve our problems with agriculture,” says Ivo Jeramaz, winemaker and vice president of vineyards and production at Napa’s Grgich Hills Estate. “The biggest problem in Napa is that vineyards are dying much earlier than they used to because of pests and diseases. It has become an existential problem.”
While some of Grgich’s 65-year-old vineyards also have issues like red leaf, Jeramaz is convinced that his hands-on approach to viticulture and complete reliance on observation lets these old vines thrive and produce “the best wines we have. I look around Napa and I see a lot of vineyards not lasting past 15 years. I think that’s in part because they are trying to replace people with machines.”
The best gadget we have, he says, is our senses.
“Our senses are 1,000 times better than any probe,” Jeramaz says. “And for that you need workers that you pay well and train.”
Grgich pours resources and time into staff training, flying international consulting and vine pruning training company Simonit and Sirch out to train their crew over two days.
“[The vineyard staff] couldn’t believe they were getting paid to sit inside for two days, but by training everyone to prune and care for the vines in the correct way, we’ll be able to extend the life and health of our vineyards,” he explains. “We treat every area of our vineyards differently depending on what we’re seeing.”
Grgich uses different cover crops depending on what’s needed, and will sometimes deal with small flare-ups of mealy bugs and other pests by hand “instead of spraying any of these godforsaken chemicals. We don’t spray any. We manage our vineyards predictively by planting flowers that will attract beneficial insects that will kill the problematic insects. We won’t get all of them that way, but we will have a much better wine the way we do things.”
Jeramaz says that he understands the instinct to consult technology-powered data, but he worries that relying on it too much results in “an alcoholic beverage, but not wine. More like a Coca-Cola.”
The marriage of art and science continues, with inevitable ups and downs.
As climate change and an increasingly competitive market continue to challenge assumptions about what’s normal in wine, and what we can expect tomorrow, we will be watching to see how the relationship evolves.
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Kathleen Willcox
Kathleen Willcox writes about wine, food and culture from her home in Saratoga Springs, N.Y. She is keenly interested in sustainability issues, and the business of making ethical drinks and food. Her work appears regularly in Wine Searcher, Wine Enthusiast, Liquor.com and many other publications. Kathleen also co-authored a book called Hudson Valley Wine: A History of Taste & Terroir, which was published in 2017. Follow her wine explorations on Instagram at @kathleenwillcox
