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Getting Off the Hamster Wheel: Grape Growers Connect with New Markets for Whole Farm Profitability

By
Pam Strayer | Contributing Writer
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Whole farm profitability can be achieved in different ways, and one way that first-generation winegrape grower Tara Beaver has accomplished this is through paid social media brand deals. She signed a long-term social media brand deal with Carhartt and their ‘Friends of Carhartt’ program to generate additional income for herself during down winegrape years.

If grape prices are going down, are there other ways to make money from a farm? That was the task facing growers in Lodi, where more than 10,000 acres of vines were pulled out over the last year.

At the Unified Grape & Wine Symposium, a well-attended session presented a compelling array of alternatives with creative responses to the challenge of making income from catering to other income streams. Lodi Winegrape Commission’s Stephanie Bolton, Ph.D., the group’s director of grower research and education, presented the session title, “Getting Off the Hamster Wheel: Whole Farm Profitability,” which featured two success stories followed by 15 individual, interactive table discussions, including Agritourism: Farmstays and Visits, ChatGPT for a Business Plan, Cash Crop Hedgerows, Animal Agrotourism and more.

First-generation winegrape grower Tara Beaver has also done paid social media brand deals with the likes of Ford and New Holland.

Marketing Farm Experiences and Promoting Community Connections
The inspiration for the Whole Farm session started in 2023, when Bolton was awarded a Nuffield International farming scholarship, which funded a visit to Japan to learn new ideas to bring back home.

“In Japan, I learned what can happen when the family farm dies off, and what we can do in America to help prevent that from happening,” she said.

Growers in Japan selling to the large grocery store chains faced declining profits and began to lose interest in farming. “A large percentage of farmland in Japan was, and still is, abandoned,” she said.

But then things changed; a direct-to-consumer movement reinvigorated people and profits.

Said Bolton, “Once the remaining farmers broke away from selling to the large grocery stores and started selling directly to consumers, they told us they felt more connected and inspired to raise the quality of their produce, and they wanted to make people smile from enjoying their products. The energy came back, and so did the profits and the younger people.”

Bolton said there is vast potential for income-generating activities that growers can add to their farms, including fulfilling a need many people have to be more engaged with the land, and the session illustrated that with local case studies from Lodi growers.

One Option: Farmstays
Together, Bolton and Rachael Callahan, the statewide agritourism coordinator for UC ANR, went to the World Agritourism Congress in Italy last year. “I learned out of the 2 million farms in the U.S., there are only about 154,000 of them with direct sales and or agritourism,” Bolton said.

The state’s website helps would-be farmstay providers connect to resources.

“We are missing an opportunity to connect with people and earn extra income,” Bolton said. “Wine tastings are fun, but let’s also give people educational farm experiences. Our vineyards are so gorgeous.

“You live in beautiful places, and a sunset walk through a vineyard or a picnic next to a river may not seem like a big deal to you, but to people that don’t have regular access to that, it’s amazing. The opportunities to create educational agritourism experiences are boundless, and unlike with grapes, the demand for these agritourism experiences is higher than the supply.”

As evidence, Bolton pointed to the popularity of a YouTube channel called Country Life Vlog, the story of a farm in Azerbaijan, which has more than 7 million followers and 2.2 billion page views.

The program then showcased three speakers who have found their way to income producing projects.

From Novice Winegrower to Successful Influencer – Tara’s Story
Tara Beaver grew up in the Sacramento River delta. Her dad grew alfalfa and corn, but she never thought she herself would become a grower. “While I was in college, I quickly realized I had no idea what I wanted to do, and I ended up dropping out,” she said.

Beaver returned to her family’s farm and ended up at the California Farm Academy at the Center for Land-Based Learning. “The seven-month course is hands-on in the field, learning about all different areas of agriculture,” she said.

It was there that she discovered what she really wanted to do: Plant a vineyard.

“The most important thing for me was we ended the program with a business plan where they had landowners and bankers come in, and we presented our business plan to them,” Beaver said. “That was vital for me, and my business plan was called Beaver Vineyards. So, that is how I ended my first year of farming in 2015 once I decided I wanted to plant a vineyard.”

She wound up taking viticulture and enology classes at Napa Valley Community College and planted her 50 acres of Sauvignon Blanc vines on leased ground in 2018.

When friends and family wanted to keep up with her activities, Beaver started posting on social media, and kapow. “I had no idea that there was already a huge agricultural community on social media. I was just totally oblivious to it, and once I started sharing [on Instagram], the followers just started coming.”

She now has 34,000+ followers on Instagram.

More followers came once Beaver started a YouTube channel, which now has 22,000+ subscribers and 3 million views. Over time, she’s come to represent top brands like Carhartt, Ford and New Holland, and even launched her own line of merchandise.

Beaver and her dad both wear Carhartt, so she started tagging photos #Carhartt. “They reached out to me and said, ‘Hey, can we send you some clothes?’” So she said, ‘Send it on over.’

“Then they ended up asking me to be a Friend of Carhartt. So I signed on with a long-term partnership with them. I have yearlong brand deals, and it brings in income which was especially good in 2023 when things were starting to look a little rough on grape sales. I was able to really focus on my income coming from social media. Any income I was getting off the farm was going right back into the farm.

“And since I’m the first generation with the vineyard, I cry sometimes when I look at my ag loan. So, any money I can put back into the farm, that’s what I want. I was able to sort of live off my social media income.

“Working with brands that you truly love already is the easiest. I went through a period of trying to force myself to work with brands that would reach out to me, but there wasn’t quite that organic connection. I feel like Carhartt really changed that for me, because it was like, ‘Oh, it’s not so much work when I truly, truly love this brand.’”

Social media then led her in a direction she never thought it would: Wine from her own vineyard, thanks to a casual relationship she developed over time with Boeger Winery.

“They reached out to me when I first started my social media,” Beaver said. “I hadn’t even had my first harvest yet, and they were like, ‘Why don’t you come up and you can experience harvest…’ It was just them being super nice and great people. And in 2018, I got to harvest with them.

“Then in 2023, I filled my existing contract and no one else was interested in my grapes… so they came down to my vineyard, they picked a few tons, and they made a bottle containing 90% of my grapes.”

She has also had the opportunity to work with Ford. “I test drive vehicles for them. I get paid for it. And I’ve gotten to do some trips with them (available on YouTube),” she said.

Beaver also works with YouTube on agriculture content to put in front of people. “That’s so important,” she said.

She also got to be on the cover of New Holland’s magazine Acres. “I drive New Holland tractors. That’s another really organic partnership. I just tagged them whenever I posted a picture with the New Holland tractor in the background, and then they eventually reached out to me.”

Beaver shared a quote in her presentation slides: “Dreaming big can lead to the unexpected opportunities that transform your life completely.”

“That’s what I feel like social media did for me,” Beaver said. “I wanted to be a farmer, and I told people. I don’t make wine because I want to be in the dirt. I want to be in the field every day. I did not imagine that I was going to be doing trips with brands because of social media. So, it really has transformed my life. And the income has been huge. Because there’s years where I’m like, ‘I don’t really want to pay myself this year because I just need to put it back in the farm; this year is rough, you know?…’ That’s why we have to diversify, because it does get rough, and this has helped me so much.”

Another income-generating tactic for whole farm profitability is a U-Pick operation. The Stokes family at Stokes Vineyards started a U-Pick cherry operation they named ‘Pick N Cherish’ when both grape and cherry prices weren’t doing well to supplement income. The cherry trees being located next to the vineyard has also helped the Stokes generate more local interest in their wines (photos courtesy J. Stokes.)

U-Pick Cherries: The Stokes’ Pick N Cherish
When both grape and cherry prices weren’t doing well, fourth-generation growers Bill and Jacylyn Stokes of Stokes Vineyards decided to dive in and start a U-Pick cherry operation they named ‘Pick N Cherish.’

They bought a popup tent and a picnic table and started posting on social media. “We put it all together in a month,” Bill said. “I didn’t know how it was going to happen. We just did it anyway, and it worked out well.

“People were out there picking… they’d see a bug and they’d say, ‘You must be organic because I saw a bug in your field.’ I said, ‘No, that could be a good bug or bad bug, depending what kind of bug it was.’

“So many people came out there and picked cherries. And they said, ‘I’ve never touched a cherry tree in my life, but I’ve eaten cherries for years.’

“The cherry orchard is surrounded by grapes,” Bill continued. “And a couple times, a lady would come up and say, ‘I lost my husband. I know where he’s at, he would be out walking in the vineyard.’ And then later, ‘Can we come pick the grapes?’ I said, ‘Well, you can, but they’re wine grapes, not table grapes.’ ‘Well, who do you sell them to?’ The visitors wanted to come back and help at harvest time.”

It also led to more interest in the wine from those vines. “The visitors would say, ‘We’re going to start buying that wine now because now we know how it’s raised,” Bill said.

Bill also appreciated the simplicity of a direct relationship with the consumer.

“I got an education, and you know what? It was pure profit. I didn’t have a labor contractor bill. I didn’t have packing charges. I didn’t have to buy a container. I didn’t have to wait and see what was going to happen, what market it went to, if it went to Japan, China. It stayed local.

“This year, we’re going to put the honey in with the cherries,” Bill said, coordinating with his beekeeper. “Now, they’re going to be able to get the honey from the cherries. It actually came from that particular orchard, and that, I think, is going to be a big hit. It’s just a lot of fun.”

Marketing was lowkey but effective. “The outreach was really important,” said Jaclyn. “We kept it simple; we did a Facebook page as opposed to a website.”

In 2025, they are launching a website. The Stokes posted flyers at their local UPS, U.S. Postal Service stores, coffee shops and kids’ schools, “because obviously we wanted this to be a family thing. And we also got a big sign and put it near the freeway. We have a ranch right off the freeway.”

The Stokes found synergies with a nearby blueberry U-Pick. “We took our flyer over there, and we brought people to that,” Jaclyn said. “And it was a whole U-Pick day for people, and they were absolutely obsessed with it.

“People want to be outside,” she continued. “They want to be in nature. They crave it. It’s something that takes a couple hours, and kids really enjoy it, and parents too. One guy came every single day at the very end, we stayed open for him as he spent about an hour and a half picking his own cherries.

“We did it just one weekend to start, and we had enough people show up that we were like, ‘Oh, we should have done this Thursday or Sunday or more. And so we did two or three more weekends, and you’re seeing everyone come as families, something that was the most rewarding.”

In terms of profitability, the Stokes said volume might be lower, but they had much more control of the margins.

“All the local visitors support local,” Jaclyn said. “That’s a thing that we’re seeing move up.”

The Stokes were also social media-savvy in the U-Pick experience offered, Jaclyn said. “Our first year, we did a photo booth so people could take photos… People want to take a photo. We’re all about bragging about our lives here.”

The family sees a lot of potential for growth. “You might be surprised we are helping neighborhood farmers get set up with it. We have a peach farmer that’s asked us to help, and there’s that blueberry farm nearby. So, there are other ways to get that stream of income and get direct-to-consumer that can benefit you as a farmer.

“The whole thing is about whole farm profitability, and like my dad said, we just wanted to give it a shot to see what happened. And it was sufficient enough that we’re going to keep going,” Jaclyn said.

“There’s a lot of ways we can take this. We can do field trips. We can do private tours at our local schools or any type of daycare. There’s a lot of room for growth. And we really got momentum with this. You know, the idea of telling the story of pollination with the honey is something that was really easy for us to incorporate… we’re going to do [it] this year.”

How to Minimize Vineyard Theft

By
Steve Pastis | Contributing Writer
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Tulare County Farm Bureau Executive Director Tricia Stever Blattler and Tulare County District Attorney Tim Ward with a sample of the stickers intended to stop attempted ag theft (photo courtesy Tulare County District Attorney's Office.)

In Tulare County, agricultural crime, ranging from packaging to copper and vehicle theft, poses a persistent threat to rural vineyards and farmland.

“Here in Tulare County, the majority of our farmland is relatively rural,” said Lieutenant Randall Gunderman, commander of the Tulare County Sheriff’s Office Ag Crimes Investigations Unit. “There may not be a house for 5, 6 or 10 miles, and it’s all open. Criminals can get to and from these locations with ease. There’s nothing to really stop them.

“The question becomes, how do you deter them from your property by making it difficult enough to where they say, ‘It’s not worth it. I’m just going to go somewhere else?’ ” Gunderman said. That’s the challenge.

“I tell people the best tool we have is surveillance, but I understand that with the rural nature of most of these places, the electricity isn’t there to hook up a good-quality surveillance system,” he said. “So, what do you do? Maybe you invest in some good-quality trail cameras and set them up in a way that captures entrances and exits. They have to be set at the right level to potentially get a license plate on a vehicle, so there is a little bit of training involved to ensure they are set up correctly.”

Vineyard Packaging Theft
“Particularly in vineyards, we deal with a lot of theft of packaging materials,” Gunderman said. “The reason is that processors and growers typically set packing materials out in the vineyards on the sides of the road the day before harvest begins. That gives other smaller or competitive farm labor contractors the opportunity to take that material and use it for fields they have contracted, cutting their overhead and saving them money.”

Styrofoam packing boxes and SO2-generating pads are the usual targets, and a vineyard’s competitors are often the culprits, according to Gunderman. “Without a doubt, I would venture to say that more often than not, when packaging materials are stolen, it’s by another contractor or grower,” he said.

“What we’ve told growers in the past is if there’s any way you can refrain from setting that material out the night before, do it,” he said. “Don’t set it out there. Don’t bring it to the field until the packing crew is there, ready to harvest and pack. When you’re done, clean that stuff up and get it out of there.

“But it becomes a logistical issue, and I get it,” he said. “It’s hot outside, so these crews get in the field at four o’clock in the morning, and that packing material is already there and staged for them. If you’re running a business, you have to do what you can to make it as efficient as possible.

“But if you end up losing an entire truck of packing materials, that sets you back even further as the day begins,” he added. “So, if there’s a way to avoid putting it in the field the night before, that’s probably the best way to handle it.”

Crime by Employees
“We had a case a few years ago where employees would come back at night and pick fruit for themselves,” said Rocky Pipkin, president and managing general partner of the Pipkin Detective Agency in Visalia, Calif.

“They would use the equipment and the packing boxes to pack the grapes. One of the things we learned from that was to not leave any equipment out in the fields.

“Even if you have to rent a temporary fenced-in area and put a temporary alarm on it, you would be money ahead from a prevention standpoint because they would likely move on to somewhere else where the vineyard was not protected,” he said.

Vineyard owners usually don’t screen their seasonal employees to prevent theft.

“Because they’re temporary, it’s very difficult to justify doing a background investigation,” Pipkin said. “You’re dealing with labor contractors. They have their own people, and there’s an insulation point between the grower and the labor contractor who is hiring to provide the labor to pick the fruit.”

Pipkin strongly advises grape growers to put up fencing.

“You’re not going to put a fence around your whole vineyard, but you should put it around packing material, boxes, tools, tractors, and bins that have to be moved by a forklift,” he said. “You put that behind the fence and then lock the gate.

“You have to make it difficult for criminals to get on your property,” he said. “One of the most important things is to make sure your cables prevent access by vehicles across the roads into your fields. Make sure that you have a cable or chain that goes across to prevent entry by any driven vehicles.”

This equipment, used to move boxes of picked grapes, was stolen from a Traver, Calif. vineyard in October (photo courtesy Tulare County Sheriff’s Office.)

Copper Wire Theft
“Copper wire theft is a nationwide problem,” Gunderman said. “They’ll go in and cut the power to the irrigation pumps, then cut the wire at both the pump end and the panel end, and rip it out of the ground.

“The wire itself isn’t a huge loss,” he said. “300 ft of wire might only be worth a couple thousand dollars, but when they do this, they completely destroy any conduit under the dirt. To retrench, lay new conduit, pull new wire, and hook everything back up, a 200- or 300-foot pull of wire can cost the grower $30,000.”

To minimize this type of crime, Gunderman advises growers to “harden the target” with fencing, lighting, surveillance, cable gates and other security measures to make access more difficult.

Some Central Valley growers have started replacing copper wire with significantly cheaper aluminum wire. However, this alone did not stop all the damage, so some growers painted or posted information about the change on their equipment. When Tulare County District Attorney Tim Ward was informed of this, his office began distributing stickers reading “This equipment only contains aluminum wire” in both English and Spanish.

Vehicle Theft
Although most vehicle thefts in Tulare County are referred to the California Highway Patrol, the Tulare County Sheriff’s Office is sometimes involved.

“We do at times deal with stolen vehicles,” Gunderman said. “And most of the time when that happens, it’s because they burglarized the shop or a home and got the keys from there.”

“My experience has been that quads are probably the No. 1 thing to steal because they’re quick and easy, and they don’t have license plates if they’re kept on farms,” Pipkin said. “Thieves will target those, and the more organized groups will go after tractors, forklifts, trailers and trucks.

“If you have a tractor out there and the keys are missing, that typically means a crook has taken them and is making a duplicate,” Pipkin said. “That way he can have access to your tractor and come steal it anytime he wants.

“Make certain all vehicles that require keys have those keys kept in a locked box inside a locked building,” he said. “Whoever is leaving the ranch last needs to check every vehicle to ensure that the keys are not left inside and that the vehicles are locked.”

“As far as keys being left in farm or ranch vehicles, I’m sure it happens,” Gunderman said. “And my first suggestion is don’t do that.

“It’s not smart practice to leave any vehicle unsecured or unlocked with valuables inside,” he said. “Some of these growers have their own service trucks, and the loss of the truck is substantial in itself. But when you start factoring in $30,000 to $50,000 worth of tools, welders, air compressors and other items on a service truck, GWthat loss jumps significantly.”

Being Vigilant
“Every day, and I know this becomes boring and mundane, but every day, check your fields, especially during the harvesting season and early spring,” Pipkin said. “You’re planting, irrigating and checking for harmful pests. You need to go out to your fields daily and look.

“A lot of farmers, just from old-school habits, would check the dirt roads for tracks. If they noticed an unusual tire print, they knew someone had been on their property,” he said. “That’s how vigilant you have to be in today’s world.”

Wine Industry Confronts “The Age of Uncertainty” at 2025 Unified Wine & Grape Symposium

By
Muriel Bañares | Brown-Miller Communications, Inc.
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Panelists at the Unified Wine & Grape Symposium’s State of the Industry session discussed shifting consumer trends, economic pressures and strategies for navigating "The Age of Uncertainty” (photo by Jonathan Bash, courtesy Brown-Miller Communications.)

The 2025 Unified Wine & Grape Symposium continued its tradition in January of bringing key trends and insights to the forefront, equipping industry professionals with the knowledge needed to stay competitive. Each January, Sacramento becomes the epicenter of the wine and grape industry as more than 10,000 attendees gather to connect, explore new technologies and engage with global experts on current trends and challenges. The Unified Symposium serves as the industry’s leading platform for education and discussion, setting the tone for the year ahead.

State of the Industry: Navigating Challenges
At this year’s highly anticipated State of the Industry session, experts tackled pressing concerns, such as declining wine consumption, surpluses, inflation and growing anti-alcohol sentiment. These factors contributed to what has been dubbed “The Age of Uncertainty.”

“It’s tough, but it will get better,” said Glenn Proctor of the Ciatti Company, one of four panelists providing insights. “The wine industry is not going anywhere, but it does have to change.”

Industry analyst Danny Brager echoed this sentiment, adding, “The headwinds facing the industry are very real, but it shouldn’t be overlooked that over a third of America’s 500 largest brands are growing.”

Beyond discussions of market challenges, the Unified Symposium is also a place for inspiration. This year, attendees heard from the 2025 Keynote Luncheon Speaker Alecia Moore of Two Wolves Wine, who shared her personal journey of discovering a passion for grape growing and winemaking. She spoke about her initial curiosity, the years spent learning the craft while maintaining her music career and the sense of magic she found in growing grapes and turning them into wine. Moore’s story served as a reminder of why so many people fall in love with wine: its ability to create shared experiences and meaningful connections.

Attendees at the Unified Symposium engaged with cutting-edge vineyard technology, sustainable practices and innovative marketing strategies aimed at evolving consumer preferences (photo by Jonathan Bash, courtesy Brown-Miller Communications.)

Key Industry Topics and Innovations
Organizers of the Unified Symposium are committed to providing a platform for diverse industry voices to address critical topics and emerging trends. This year’s event featured 25 sessions covering a broad range of subjects, from cutting-edge vineyard technologies to innovative marketing strategies aimed at younger consumers.

Viticulture and Sustainability
New approaches to vineyard management included an interactive discussion on whole farm profitability, strategies for increasing vineyard resilience in the face of climate change and insights into emerging pest threats like the spotted lanternfly.

Winemaking and Market Trends
Sessions explored sustainable and efficient winery practices, the rising popularity of Sauvignon Blanc, advancements in no- and low-alcohol winemaking, and a deep dive into barrels and oak adjuncts.

Marketing and Consumer Engagement
With an ever-evolving consumer landscape, attendees sought insights on maximizing sales, understanding shifting buying habits, leveraging influencer marketing and incorporating artificial intelligence into their business strategies.

Multicultural Engagement and Strategic Communication
The final day of the Unified Symposium focused on multicultural engagement and strategic communications. The morning featured a robust Spanish-language track, titled “Innovative Synergy: Creativity and Technology for Wine Industry Excellence.” Conducted entirely in Spanish and enhanced by a curated tasting experience, these sessions underscored the global nature of the wine industry, fostering cultural exchange and broadening professional perspectives.

Concurrently, the general session “Crafting a Positive Narrative: Promoting Wine in the Face of Challenges,” moderated by New York Times Wine Editor Eric Asimov, tackled the industry’s response to changes in consumer preferences. Experts shared innovative approaches to storytelling, marketing and community engagement, offering strategies for wineries and grape growers to navigate these challenges effectively.

The Unified Symposium’s trade show floor buzzed with energy as industry professionals explored 900 exhibitor booths showcasing the latest advancements in viticulture, enology and business solutions.

The American Wine Industry, Deconstructed
The Unified Symposium hosts the largest trade show of its kind in the Western Hemisphere for two days. This is where 900 exhibit booths are pulled under one roof, the size of three football fields! On the trade show floor, anything related to the wine and grape industry can be found, including the latest innovations. The halls echo with conversations between old and new colleagues as attendees explore the various displays and services. Many businesses send their employees annually to the Unified Symposium to expose them to the breadth of the wine industry best captured on its massive trade show floor.

A Call to Innovation and Collaboration
“Coming together, sharing information and fostering discussions is the best way to keep our industry strong and competitive,” said Natalie Collins of the California Association of Winegrape Growers, which co-hosts the symposium alongside the American Society for Enology and Viticulture. “The Unified Symposium provides an opportunity for the sharpest minds in the industry to collaborate and share their perspectives, helping growers, vintners and suppliers prepare for the dynamic year ahead.”

As the 2025 symposium came to a close, the spirit of innovation and collaboration remained palpable. Attendees left with fresh ideas, new partnerships and renewed inspiration, momentum that will continue shaping the industry in the months ahead. Excitement is already building for next year’s event, scheduled for Jan. 27 to 29, 2026.

For the wine and grape community, the Unified Symposium is more than just an event; it is a convergence of minds where tradition meets innovation, where cultural exchange enriches professional practice and where every session contributes to a larger narrative of progress and sustainability.

The Ag Tech Boom: What It Means for Grape and Wine Growers in 2025

By
Jason Scott | Publisher/CEO, Grape & Wine, JCS Marketing Inc.
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If there’s one thing we can all agree on in the wine industry, it’s that farming is both an art and a science. You know the drill: carefully watching your vines, adjusting to the weather and making judgment calls that could make or break your season. But let’s face it: The tools we have at our disposal today make our ancestors’ methods look like something out of the Stone Age.

In 2025, ag tech is at the forefront of vineyard management, offering grape growers the chance to work smarter, not harder. And as someone who spends a lot of time talking to winemakers, growers and consultants, I can tell you the innovations we’re seeing right now aren’t just flashy gadgets; they’re game-changers.

Precision Agriculture for Vineyards: Turning Data into Wine
Gone are the days when precision agriculture felt like a luxury for big growers. Today, it’s an everyday reality for vineyards of all sizes. With tools like drones, soil sensors and satellite imaging, you can monitor every inch of your vineyard without having to walk every single row.

Drones Are Your New Best Friend
Think of drones as your eyes in the sky. These nimble devices can fly over your vineyard, capturing high-resolution images that show you exactly what’s happening with your vines. Got a patch of underperforming plants? The drone’s multispectral imaging will reveal it. Need to track how well your irrigation system is working? Drones can spot uneven watering or stressed vines faster than you can say “Cabernet Sauvignon.”

Soil Sensors Take the Guesswork Out of Growing
IoT (Internet of Things) sensors are another tool changing the game. You place these tiny devices in your vineyard and they monitor everything from soil moisture to nutrient levels 24/7. Instead of guessing when your vines need water or fertilizer, you’ll know exactly what’s going on underground. For growers dealing with unpredictable weather or water restrictions, this level of precision is a lifesaver.

Fighting Pests and Diseases with Smarter Tools
Let’s talk about every grower’s nightmare: pests and diseases. Whether it’s powdery mildew creeping up or a sudden swarm of pests, these issues can wreak havoc on a vineyard. Thankfully, 2025 has brought some cutting-edge tools to help you fight back.

AI-Powered Pest Monitoring
Artificial intelligence (AI) is like having a virtual pest expert in your pocket. With AI-powered apps, you can snap a photo of a problem area, and the software will identify the pest or disease and suggest solutions. These apps pull from massive databases of past cases, so the advice is as specific as it gets.

Autonomous Sprayers
Say goodbye to spraying your entire vineyard and hoping for the best. Autonomous sprayers equipped with smart technology now target specific areas where pests or diseases are a problem. Not only does this save on chemical costs, but it’s also a win for sustainability by reducing unnecessary applications.

Climate Challenges? Meet Climate Tech
Let’s be real: Climate change is the elephant in the vineyard. Between rising temperatures, unpredictable frosts and water scarcity, growers are facing challenges that didn’t exist a generation ago. The good news? Ag tech is stepping up to help you adapt.

Smart Irrigation Systems
In 2025, irrigation isn’t just about turning on the water and hoping for the best. Smart irrigation systems use AI to analyze weather forecasts, soil data and vine water needs. They can automatically adjust water flow to make sure your vines get exactly what they need, nothing more, nothing less.

Heat-Tolerant Grapevines
Here’s a fun fact: Breeders and geneticists are working on heat-tolerant grapevine varieties that thrive in higher temperatures without sacrificing flavor. While these might not replace your beloved Pinot Noir just yet, they’re an exciting option for regions where traditional varieties are struggling to cope with climate change.

Automation in the Winery
The tech revolution doesn’t stop in the vineyard. Once your grapes make it to the winery, there’s a whole new world of automation and AI waiting to streamline production.

Automated Fermentation Monitoring
Keeping tabs on fermentation is a delicate art, but automation is making it easier. With sensors placed directly in fermentation tanks, you can monitor sugar levels, temperature and pH in real time. If something’s off, you’ll know immediately; no more waiting for lab results or taking manual samples.

AI-Driven Blending
Blending wine is still a deeply personal process, but AI is lending a helping hand. Some winemakers are using AI tools to analyze data on flavor profiles and predict how different blends will age. Think of it as your assistant winemaker, offering guidance while you make the final call.

Sustainability Meets Profitability
If there’s one word that keeps coming up in conversations about ag tech, it’s “sustainability.” But let’s be honest, sustainability doesn’t just mean being good to the planet; it also has to make financial sense.

Carbon Credits for Vineyards
Did you know that practices like cover cropping and reduced tillage can earn you carbon credits? These programs pay growers for capturing carbon in their soils, which can add a nice chunk of change to your bottom line.

Eco-Friendly Packaging
Sustainability doesn’t stop in the vineyard. Many wineries are embracing lightweight bottles, recyclable materials and even alternative packaging like cans or pouches. These choices aren’t just good for the planet; they resonate with eco-conscious consumers who are willing to pay a premium for sustainable products.

Ag Tech: A Tool, Not a Replacement
Now, I know what some of you might be thinking: “All this tech sounds great, but does it replace the human element?” Absolutely not. Technology is a tool, one that works best when paired with your expertise, intuition and hard-earned experience.

Think of ag tech as an amplifier. It gives you more information, helps you work faster and makes it easier to identify issues. But at the end of the day, it’s your judgment that turns raw data into actionable decisions.

As I look ahead, I’m excited about where this tech revolution is taking us. From drones to blockchain, from heat-tolerant vines to AI-driven blending, the possibilities are endless. The key is to stay curious, stay informed and be willing to try new things.

New Wine Market Council Studies Dive into Consumer Preference on Greener Wines

By
Pam Strayer | Contributing Writer
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60% of younger and multicultural consumers prefer sustainable or organic wines, according to Wine Market Council’s latest study (courtesy Wine Market Council.)

Do eco-friendly wine certifications matter to consumers? And how accurate are consumers’ perceptions of various eco-wine categories when it comes to understanding what eco-wine labels mean?

Data show these categories are impacting both consumer behavior and sales:

  • 60% of younger (20 to 40) and multicultural consumers want greener wine, sustainable or organic.
  • A recent Wine Market Council study conducted with Ethnifacts found 58% to 61% of younger consumers (20 to 40) prefer sustainable, family-owned or organically grown wines.
  • Organically grown wine sales were up in 2024, despite market declines in other categories.
  • While overall wine sales declined, recent sales data show organically grown wine purchases rose 2.6% last year (according to NIQ). Bonterra’s supermarket-priced, certified “Made with Organic Grapes” wines were up 16% in the first quarter of 2024.

New Eco-Friendly Wine Study

The latest Wine Market Council online survey of 1,500 consumers, conducted by Wine Opinions in February, dug deeper into greener wines in a recent webinar titled “Eco-Friendly Wine Study: Consumer Beliefs and Motivations.”

Of the consumers surveyed, “896 were from the Wine Opinions consumer panel, which tracks frequent, engaged wine consumers,” said market researcher Christian Miller, “plus an oversample of 607 less frequent and younger consumers to balance frequency and age, recruited via Cint.”

Inside the Trends: Interest in Better Personal and Worker Health, Climate-Friendly Practices

Do consumers have accurate perceptions of what sustainable and organic mean? The study found 73% of respondents understood “organic grapes” while 56% said they understood what “sustainably produced” meant in wine.

The researchers also looked at what consumers associate with each type:

“What we see here is where sustainable has its real toehold is in water conservation, minimization of greenhouse gas and considering the safety of workers and residents,” said Wine Opinions’ John Gillespie.

60% of younger and multicultural consumers prefer sustainable or organic wines, according to Wine Market Council’s latest study (courtesy Wine Market Council.)

“On the flip side, organic meant more to consumers than sustainable when you were talking about no pesticides, no GMOs… and they’re healthier for you.”

Greener Wines: To Buy or Not to Buy

“The top reason for wanting to buy is supporting farmers and supporting wineries that produce such wine,” Gillespie said. “These are the people who have a more generalized eco-concern.”

On the flip side, consumers who want greener wines often can’t find them on the shelf, the study found. “People who are concerned about climate change, the highest percentage of those who don’t purchase sustainably produced organic or organic grape wines, say it is because they never see them in the market,” he added.

Consumers associate sustainable wine with practices like water conservation and worker safety, while organic wines are more closely linked to pesticide-free farming and health benefits (courtesy Wine Market Council.)

Surprisingly, Alternative Packaging Ranked High Among All Age Groups

What consumers are overwhelmingly interested in, according to the February study, is eco-friendlier packaging, including lighter-weight wine bottles (71% to 83%), canned wines and boxed or Tetra Pak wines.

Said Wine Market Council’s Liz Thach, “This surprised me because I did a survey two years ago, and this did not come up very high at all with consumers… It sounds like consumers are really starting to be more educated. There’s more information out there, and they’re recognizing the benefits of lightweight bottles. 70% of them now. So if you’re not doing lightweight bottles, you may want to consider it.”

Lighter-weight bottles also have economic benefits, she said.

“Companies like Jackson Family, who have invested in it, have actually saved millions of dollars, too, in their production. So there’s another financial reason to do so, which, of course, in this challenging environment, makes a lot of sense.”

Takeaways for Marketers

In addition to switching to lightweight bottles, Thach recommended prominently displaying eco-wine seals on labels and packaging.

“We found the younger consumers are even more interested in the social/health aspects of sustainable or organic wines,” she said.

She advised marketers to make the certification seals bigger on labeling. “There’s got to be some way to get that information [across],” she said, “and communicate both the environmental and the social [benefits]. We can’t say ‘health benefits,’ but we can say ‘fewer additives,’ things like that.”

Her advice to marketers? “Say ‘better for the earth and better for me, or better for the community.’ That kind of thing. It is a super important message to get out.”

Green wine labels don’t override all the other factors when it comes to buying wine, though, Thach said.

Over time, she said, studies have found while about a third of consumers are eco-minded, overall “consumers are still looking for good taste, quality and price first… Then, sustainability is that plus.”

A comprehensive report on the full survey is available to Wine Market Council members.

Nematode-Resistant Rootstocks Offer Solutions and Challenges

By
Steve Pastis | Contributing Writer
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Evaluation of new nematode-resistant rootstocks is an ongoing goal of researchers and the grape industry. With current concerns involving Freedom rootstock and Sudden Vine Collapse, having additional rootstocks available for use is prudent (photo by K. Lund.)

Rootstocks serve multiple purposes for grapevines, including dealing with vineyard soil pests and acting as the interaction points for water and nutrient uptake. Nematodes have continued to be a persistent issue through rootstock developments, and evaluation of new nematode-resistant rootstocks is an ongoing goal of researchers and the grape industry.

Karl Lund, UCCE viticulture advisor covering Madera, Mariposa and Merced counties, presented a session about nematode-resistant rootstocks at the recent Crop Consultant Conference at the Visalia Convention Center.

Rootstocks will Differ
Nematode-resistant rootstocks are different in the solutions they provide but also in the problems they don’t solve.

“You may have decent resistance for some nematodes, but that resistance breaks down,” Lund said, adding some nematodes are endoparasitic and others are ectoparasitic. “So, you end up having to pick, ‘I’m going to have resistance to this nematode and not that nematode.’”

Lund used charts to show the differences in rootstocks (Table 1).

Table 1. Newer, commercially available rootstocks have broader resistance to nematodes. RS3 and RS9 have broad resistance to root-knot nematodes. GRN1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 have broad nematode resistance (courtesy Ferris, Zheng and Walker 2012.)
*Very Small, <10% (resistant); Small, 10% to 30% (moderately resistant); Medium, 30% to 50% (moderately susceptible); Large, >50% (susceptible)

“Something like 1103 Paulsen allows large amounts of a whole bunch of different nematodes to build up on it,” he said. “Yet, 1103 Paulsen actually has moderate resistance to many of these nematodes because 1103 Paulsen can just deal with it. It likes to be hurt. It likes to continue to grow very happily after being hurt.

“Apparently, 1103 Paulsen needs to see a therapist or something,” he added.

“There are some differences between allowing growth and being resistant,” Lund said. “But even then, for 1103 Paulsen, once that population has gotten big enough, it does overwhelm its ability to grow.

“Harmony is a rootstock that was very popular right up until I got into viticulture in the early 2000s,” he said. “And then these Harmony AC nematodes were found up in Livingston, and they were able to overtake the resistance found in Harmony.”

These nematodes were much more pathenogenic and able to reproduce on things thought to have resistance, according to Lund.

“They’re able to overcome that resistance and cause damage,” he said. “So, at that point, a couple different breeding programs stepped in and said, ‘All right, we’ve now lost this good resistance. Let’s see if we can fix some things.’”

The result was two breeding programs were started, and two different sets of rootstocks were produced.

“RS3 and RS9 were bred specifically to deal with those Harmony AC root-knot nematodes, and they did a good job,” Lund said. “They have some pretty broad resistance to root-knot nematodes as well as to other endoparasitic nematodes.

“Now, their resistance does break down when you start getting into the ectoparasitic nematodes,” he said. “These are the nematodes that actually live in the soil.”

A nematode resistance trial was conducted in Traver, Calif. to test rootstocks.

“We didn’t fumigate beforehand, and then we planted them,” said Lund. “And it turns out the field was heavily infested with pin nematodes, and we lost all the RS3 and RS9. So, they have good root-knot nematode resistance, but they do not have good pin nematode resistance.

“Then we actually get to the GRN series,” he said “GRN1 through 5, those actually have pretty broad resistance to all sorts of nematodes, but it’s not bulletproof. There are some holes, and even these still allow the nematode to build up in the soil to some extent, but they are a broad resistance to nematodes.

“Right now, Freedom is the most popular rootstock in this part of the state, and overall accounts for about 23% of rootstock sales up to 2022,” Lund said. “Unfortunately, right now, what’s happening with Freedom is if you plant a vine with Freedom as the rootstock, and then you get leaf roll and one of the grape viruses, which are lettered A through H (they’re not even important enough to have an actual name), you end up causing that graft union to collapse at the slightest inclination of stress.

“The Freedom rootstock goes, ‘There’s a virus. I’m under stress,’ and just shuts off that graft union and prevents water from going up and sugar from coming down, and you have the complete vine collapse,” he said. “So, it is quite prudent at this time to have rootstocks in backup supply.

“We know these new rootstocks have good resistance to different nematodes, root knot nematodes for RS3 and RS9, and general nematode resistance for GRN1 through 5, but rootstocks are not just about resistance,” Lund said. “They also affect water stress, canopy growth, nutrient uptake, yield and, of course, grape quality.”

Two Separate Trials
To study the effects of different nematode-resistant rootstocks, two trials were conducted, one in Merced County and the other in Madera County.

“It’s actually a beautiful vineyard right outside of the city of Madera,” said Lund. “We have petit verdot as our scion, 8-foot by 10-foot spacing. I have 40 total vines for each one of these rootstocks with petit verdot on it. 1103 Paulson and Freedom are the two main rootstocks here, so I have both for comparison, and then I have all the new rootstocks.

“GRN1 and GRN5 have some issues at the nursery and transplant, so I’ve actually pulled them out because growers will probably never see them,” he said. “GRN1 has about a 20% take at the nurseries and has horrible wood production, so the nurseries don’t want to deal with it, and GRN5 sees up to 80% transplant loss. So, there’s something about GRN5 where it grows great at the nursery, but you transplant it, and up to 80% of it dies in that first few months.

“A second trial was planted in September 2016 up in Merced County, this time Malbec on 5 foot by 11 foot. The big difference here is each replicate is one row of 388 plants, and I have four rows per, so I have over 1,500 of each one of those combinations, so quite a lot of plants to look at. Here, though, we have a lot less because of that size. 1103 Paulson was the only control, and then I only had GRN2, 3, 4, RS3 and RS9.”

How Fine Screens Simplify the New Winery Waste Discharge Requirements

By
Lorene Bruns and John Charlton | Duperon Corporation
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Fine screening technology helps wineries efficiently manage process water, ensuring compliance with California's stringent discharge requirements (all photos courtesy Duperon Corporation.)

Since 2021, California winemakers have been assessing the State Water Resources Control Board’s Waste Discharge Requirements for Winery Process Water resolution, which mandates more wineries monitor, report and treat their process water. To meet the January 2024 deadline, wineries across the state have submitted their initial technical reports and filing fees to comply with this order aimed at preserving California’s overworked and polluted groundwater resources.

Wineries that have submitted their plans to the board know compliance will come at great expense, regardless of how they address it. Some are purchasing land for wastewater treatment and disposal, while others are curbing their wine production to qualify for lower compliance tiers that exempt them from the stringent requirements imposed on larger operations. Many municipal wastewater plants apply heavy surcharges or outright reject winery process water due to its high levels of nitrogen, biochemical oxygen demand and salinity, forcing wineries to invest in expensive onsite treatment solutions.

With five years to materialize their proposed compliance plans, winery owners are likely juggling engineering consultant meetings, vendor pitches and board webinars on top of running their businesses. As high dollar figures are estimated for designing, constructing and procuring winery process water treatment systems, a fundamental wastewater treatment tenet can help wineries determine their operational costs for decades. Whether they excavate more lined evaporation ponds or install reverse osmosis membranes, fine screening technology will prevent costly equipment failures, ease process water treatment and minimize supervision, allowing wineries to focus on their grapes, staff and budget.

Screening at Its Finest
Crushed grape solids constitute most of the nutrients found in winery process water. These solids burden process water treatment systems, filling evaporation ponds, clogging pumps and membranes, and skyrocketing electricity bills. Fine screening addresses these foreseeable problems by removing virtually any solids from the wine crushing and equipment cleaning processes with tight screen openings (0.020 to 0.125 inches apart). With grape solids out of the equation, treatment systems with fine screens see interconnected benefits that protect winery bottom lines and prevent headaches.

Operations and Maintenance
Winery process water treatment systems are expensive. However, the technology chosen can determine annual operation and maintenance costs. Wineries that protect their systems with fine screens gain advantages, such as:

• Adaptability to irregular debris and flow variations dependent on harvest volume and weather

• Serviceability from the deck to eliminate in-channel or in-tank maintenance

• Operation on 0.5 horsepower motors to minimize energy use

With an easy-to-maintain helper keeping solids out of the mix, wineries can turn their attention to innovating their operations.

Fine screens contribute to water conservation and reduced carbon footprints.

Sustainable
Wine consumers and wineries continue to value water conservation and carbon footprint reduction in wine production. Some strive to produce and buy wine with sustainability certifications like SIP and Certified California Sustainable from the Wine Institute. Fine screens complement sustainable winery practices by:

• Foregoing spray bars, saving 3,000 gallons of water daily compared to other fine screen solutions

• Harvesting crushed grapes for composting, enabling wineries to cut their use of industrial fertilizers

• Being solar-powered

Ultimately, fine screens effectively remove the bulk of crushed solids and biological oxygen demand before the treatment process, reducing chemical consumption, energy use and high-strength wastewater surcharges from local municipalities. Equipped with fine screens, winery operators can minimize the time, labor and operational costs required to run their wastewater treatment system, allowing them to focus their time and attention on winemaking. The proven results have led some wineries to depend on this technology for decades.

McManis Family Vineyards in Ripon, Calif. showcases the benefits of fine screening, extending pond cleaning intervals and improving composting efforts.

Crushing Compliance
McManis Family Vineyards in Ripon, Calif. relies on wells for its on-site water use. Due to regulations, the vineyard cannot use winery process water to irrigate the land, forcing them to send it to lime ponds for evaporation. Solids sent to the pond settle to the bottom, deterring the evaporative process, decreasing pond capacity and increasing dredging frequency. Without access to city services, managing the vineyard’s solid waste falls on the Duperon FlexRake® Fine Screen with a T-shaped wedge wire screen.

“During our harvests, we crush the grapes to extract their juice,” the winemaker said. “We attempt to capture all parts not useful for wine into compost bins. The debris from those tanks ends up in the waste stream, and we don’t want that in the evaporative pond.”

Before installing the FlexRake Fine Screen in 2006, the vineyard used another manufacturer’s rotary drum screen for separation.

“It didn’t do a good job of removing the solids and was unreliable. We had a lot of downtime, clogging and times when the equipment was inoperable. We wanted to improve on that. After the 2005 harvest, we found the Duperon FlexRake Fine Screen.”

The vineyard’s FlexRake has operated for 18 years, managing grape solids and stormwater runoff before their evaporation ponds. In 2019, the staff installed a second FlexRake Fine Screen as they increased wine production.

“The benefits are multi-faceted,” the winemaker said. “We save water, create compost, reduce the energy required to keep the ponds healthy, and extend the time between pond cleanings from every two or three years before the screens to every five to seven years with the screens.”

It’s recommended wineries start conversations with their consultants and vendors as soon as possible to understand how fine screening can take the guesswork out of winery process water treatment.

The Future of Wine Production
As of 2023, only 10% of the estimated 6,200 bonded California wineries have existing discharge permits or waivers through the California Water Boards. Around 30% of these wineries are estimated to be affected by the order, meaning roughly 20% of California wineries must rethink how they treat their process water to comply.

California wineries have five years to get their new treatment systems up and running after submitting their technical reports. While consulting engineers focus on design details and vendors pitch their equipment, wineries of any size can stabilize the long-term cost of compliance with fine screening. The benefits of removing nutrient-heavy crushed solids before the wastewater treatment process pay dividends by managing treatment costs, protecting expensive treatment systems and cutting time spent operating and maintaining these systems.

Winery owners and operators don’t have to become wastewater treatment experts to be informed and insist on the right equipment for their wineries. It’s recommended wineries start conversations with their consultants and vendors as soon as possible to understand how fine screening can take the guesswork out of winery process water treatment.

Resources
General waste discharge requirements for winery process water: waterboards.ca.gov/publications_forms/publications/factsheets/docs/winery_order_factsheet.pdf

Duperon Corporation: duperon.com/our-products/screening-bar-screens/flexrake-fs/

The Great Data Debate: Does It Pay to Farm Organically?

By
Pam Strayer | Contributing Writer
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Grgich Hills presented data on its regenerative organic yields, showing steady increases since 2019. From 2019 to 2022, the years in which data was available, their Chardonnay yield significantly outperformed Napa’s Chardonnay average.

For decades, growers and vintners have been divided on the issue of whether organic farming is worth the cost, and even the cost itself is often a matter of conjecture. Little attention has been paid to what actual producers report, leading to heated and opinionated debates on the topic.

At Napa Green’s breakthrough event, The Economics of Organic Viticulture, the group brought together an impressive array of vineyard managers and vintners from major brands to talk about the economic facts of growing organic vines. The panel was illuminating for the diversity of sites, the wide number of varieties grown, yield data and other factors. Presenters included:

• Brad Kurtz, vineyard manager at family-owned sparkling wine giant Gloria Ferrer in Sonoma’s Carneros (331 acres) (they make Cava in Spain and own Freixenet S.A.) Gloria Ferrer sells 60,000 cases of wine from the Sonoma vines and is in the final stages of organic certification (a multiyear process).

• Jesse Apgar, director of operations at Enterprise Vineyards (led by Phil Coturri), an all-organic vineyard management company which farms in Sonoma and Napa (600 acres, including Kamen, Lasseter, Mayacamas, Oakville Ranch, Stone Edge and many more). The company has been farming organically (certified) for more than 40 years.

• Rebekah Wineburg, winemaker at Quintessa in Rutherford, certified organic in 2020 (160 acres).

• Bernat Sort Costa, regenerative organic research manager at family-owned Grgich Hills Estates, which farms five sites in Napa ranging from the Carneros to Calistoga (365 acres) under regenerative organic certification. It was first certified organic in 2006.

Grgich Hills Regenerative Organic Research Manager Bernat Sort Costa presented cost and longevity findings at Napa Green’s breakthrough event, The Economics of Organic Viticulture. “We found in warmer, dryer years that with more organic matter in the soil, the vines are better able to retain water and become more consistent and resilient,” he said.

Better Yields? It Depends on Cultural Practices
At Grgich Hills, an evangelist for regenerative organic farming, Sort Costa reported the family-owned winery spends $11,000 per acre to farm, far less than the Napa average of $14,800, a savings of $3,800 or 25%.

Their cost data was collected by their accounting firm, Brotemarkle Davis & Co. LLP, aggregated from other Napa wineries the firm works with.

Grgich Hills also presented data on its yields, showing steady increases since 2019. From 2019 to 2022, the years in which data was available, their Chardonnay yield significantly outperformed Napa’s Chardonnay average.

In an interview with Grape & Wine, Sort Costa attributed that to their change to increased fertility when they switched to regenerative organic farming, integrating sheep into the vines during the dormant season and going no-till.

“We found in warmer, dryer years that with more organic matter in the soil, the vines are better able to retain water and become more consistent and resilient,” he said.

Caine Thompson noted similar yield increases in a regenerative organic study conducted at Robert Hall Winery in Paso Robles after adopting regenerative practices.

German researchers comparing conventional, organic and biodynamic Riesling vineyards in a Geisenheim University research study also reported yields in organic and biodynamic vineyards were higher than conventional in hot and dry years. The biological approaches also resulted in higher fruit quality, their study said.

Vineyard Longevity and Depreciation
Do organic vines last longer? Many organic vintners report they do and cite that as a major financial benefit.

The average Napa vine age is 25 years, Sort Costa said, compared to Grgich Hills, where the vines average 35 years of age.

“Our depreciation costs are lower than half [of 150+ Napa peers] on average,” he said, quoting $1,300 in depreciation versus $3,800 for Napa peers.

Quintessa’s Wineburg said metrics for an estate are different than for a grower. “The real metric is not cost per acre; it’s the number of tons that actually make it into the blend.

“There are huge benefits in terms of resilience in each of the vines,” she continued. “Replanting a vineyard is the biggest cost, the most expensive thing that you can do. So, if we can keep these vines in the ground for another 10 or 15 years, that’s wonderful from a cost perspective.

“From a quality, consistency and depth of flavor perspective, it’s even more important because vines only really come to express their terroir when they’re mature. They come into that balance, and when they are in that balance, they are more resilient. So, we do believe in building farming for resilience.”

Table 1. Cost per acre in 2023 for various large California wineries to farm organically.

Dramatic Improvements in Wine Quality
The biggest plus for many was the improvement in grape quality. “We’ve seen the quality as we transition from conventional to organic,” said Kurtz (the Robert Hall study found similar results.)

Enterprise Vineyards’ grown grapes (from Oakville Ranch, for example) that have received 100-point scores in its first year of regenerative organic farming include Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars’s 2021 Cask 23.

“As far as farming costs go [at Gloria Ferrer], we’ve actually held our farming costs fairly steady across the last five to six years, even with the increase in the cost of inputs,” said Kurtz.

Despite increased costs for weed control, he added, “Our farming costs have actually gone down slightly.”

At the same time, quality has improved.

“The quality of the wines has elevated every year, with tons of intensity on the palate,” he said, as the Napa Green event attendees tasted the 2021 Gloria Ferrer Royal Cuvee, a sparkling rosé. “Really long finish. Great midpalate, great mouth coat… It’s something we’re really proud of that we’re able to do this and still produce an extremely high-quality product… at a relatively affordable price point on the wholesale market.”

Elsewhere in California
While the vineyards featured in the Napa Green event are farmed for high priced wines, how are organic growers in lower priced regions faring?

Craig Ledbetter of Vino Farms in Lodi has 900 acres either certified organic or in transition and plans to convert more.

“I do believe it is an emerging market, and I want to be at the forefront of that,” he said in an interview with Grape & Wine. His costs range in the neighborhood of $4,500 an acre, depending on the type of harvest and administrative and hauling costs.

“Organic can be very similar in pricing because you’re not using some of those more expensive chemicals and because you’re not using some chemicals at all,” Ledbetter said. You’re using a lot of sulfur, and you’re not putting on a lot of sprays, and sprays can be more expensive over time.”

North Coast veteran vineyard manager Dave Koball (newly of KoballVit.com) has farmed for a wide variety of sustainable, organic or biodynamic clients. He said comparison is difficult.

“It all depends on site characteristics and bottle price,” Koball said. “At the end of the day, I just think that as an organic grower, you have to be in the vineyard more, and this leads to quality improvements.

“You must be ahead of the pests, preventing issues, not working behind the pests to eradicate them as you would in a conventional setting,” he added. “This is done through using all your tools (cultural practices, irrigation, crop load balance, fertility, encouraging diversity, etc.) holistically and synergistically. This leads to vines that are in balance with their soil, environment and crop load, which gives optimal fruit quality.”

That can be an economic benefit, Kurtz said, when it comes to selling fruit.

“We have a lot of neighbors that have a lot of fruit that was not harvested this year, and we were able to move more tons. I can guarantee you we were able to move more tons this year than we would have if we were not farming organically, and the price that we got for those was significantly higher than what everyone else was getting in our area.

“I think that is a very easy [return on investment] versus dropping your fruit on the ground. We’re selling it… that is a very easy equation. And if we were not farming organically, we would not have sold this fruit. Every single person we sold fruit to this year bought fruit from us because we were farming organically, and they were seeking out organically farmed fruit. And they may not be putting it on the bottle, but they are conscious of organic farming, and they understand organic farming produces better wines.”

Monitoring and Building Soil Health in California Vineyards

By
Charlotte Decock | Associate Professor, Grimm Family Center for Organic Production and Research, California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, Lauren Picone| Masters Student, Environmental Sciences and Management, California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, Priya Verma | Associate Professor, Dept. of Natural Resources Management and Environmental Sciences, California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, Matt Grieshop | Director, Grimm Family Center for Organic Production and Research, California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo and Cristina Lazcano | Associate Professor, Dept. of Land, Air and Water Resources, UC Davis
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Figure 1. Example of a vineyard soil health scoring function modeled after Cornell’s CASH framework.

Soil health is central to sustainable agriculture and a key goal of regenerative and organic farming. Practices like the application of organic amendments, cover cropping, reduced tillage and livestock integration are promoted to improve soil health. Traditionally, sustainability or organic certifications have relied on the adoption of certain practices for monitoring and verification. However, newer regenerative agriculture certifications are introducing requirements for direct monitoring of soil health.

This shift raises important questions: How should soil health be measured and rated? How can these ratings inform management decisions? Should soil health ratings and interpretations be tailored to specific crops and regions?

To explore these issues, we conducted a case study analysis of 87 vineyard blocks across California, representing diverse management histories. This study aims to shed light on the link between regenerative agriculture and soil health monitoring in the context of California winegrape production.

How to Measure Soil Health?
Numerous soil health assessment frameworks have been developed globally, each varying in practicality, sensitivity, and interpretability. These frameworks typically include indicators of physical, chemical and biological soil properties. In the U.S., commercial laboratories offer soil health testing packages priced between $55 to $165 per sample. However, the methods and indicators used in these packages vary, making it challenging to compare results across tests.

The Soil Health Institute evaluated 30 soil health indicators across 124 long-term experiments in Northern America and recommended a core suite of practical and affordable measurements: soil organic carbon (SOC), carbon mineralization potential (MinC) and aggregate stability index (ASI). These indicators were chosen for their response to management practices across a wide range of soils, climates and production systems. In our study, we focused on these three indicators due to growing interest among California growers and laboratories in the Soil Health Institute’s recommendations.

Interpreting Soil Health Measurements
When evaluating soil health indicators, it is common to wonder: Is a MinC value of 50 mg CO2-C/kg soil/day good or bad? Last year, my soil had 1.2% SOC, but this year, the lab results showed 1.15%. Does this indicate a significant decline in soil health? What is the maximum aggregate stability achievable in my soil?

Answering these questions requires an understanding of expected soil health indicator ranges, the soil’s inherent potential and typical sampling and analysis errors. To address these complexities, Cornell’s Comprehensive Soil Health Assessment (CASH) developed scoring functions for various soil health indicators using samples from the Mid-Atlantic, Midwest, and Northeast U.S. regions.

The CASH scoring system assigns scores based on the percentage of samples with equal or lower values. For example, a score of 80% means your result is better than 80% of the reference dataset (Fig. 1). The system also accounts for soil texture, recognizing its role in influencing and sometimes constraining soil health outcomes.

Color ranges on the chart help evaluate whether soil health values differ significantly. Substantial improvements over time can shift soil into better color zones, with dark green zone indicating the soil has likely reached its potential. Though other rating and benchmarking frameworks have been proposed, we based our scoring system for California vineyards on the CASH framework, given its simplicity and clarity.

Rating Curves for California Vineyards
To develop scoring functions for California vineyards, we collaborated with winegrape growers who provided soil samples from vineyard blocks of red varietals. These blocks included those that had adopted cover cropping, compost application and no till or grazing for at least five years as well as blocks where none of these practices had been adopted for at least 10 years. Soil samples were collected from areas next to the vine and at the center of the drive rows. Additionally, growers completed a detailed survey about their practice implementation.

Figure 2. Map of participating vineyard blocks and sample locations. A total of 87 vineyard blocks were sampled from as far north as the Russian River Valley AVA and down to the Happy Canyon of Santa Barbara AVA.

The dataset includes a total of 87 vineyard blocks (Fig. 2), with various combinations of practice adoption, ranging between 0 and 27 years. Thus, the scoring functions represent how soil health values may improve with the adoption of regenerative practices across a broad range of soil types and microclimates (Fig. 3).

Figure 3. Soil health scoring functions for soil organic carbon (SOC), mineralizable carbon (MinC) and aggregate stability index (ASI) for California vineyard soils.

Like other frameworks, our scoring functions account for soil texture. Clayey soils are known to store more carbon and support greater microbial activity compared to sandier soils. Consequently, coarse-textured soils achieve high scores at lower SOC and MinC values than fine-textured soils. For ASI, values trend higher in coarse-textured soils because they are less prone to dispersion when slaked.

Comparing the ranges of SOC, MinC and ASI in our study to those reported in the literature supports the idea that building soil health may face more biophysical limitations in mediterranean regions compared to temperate climate zones. This highlights the importance of developing scoring functions tailored to specific regions and crops.

Monitoring Soil Health for Adaptive Management
For soil health scoring systems to be useful for growers, they must be sensitive to changes in management practices within an operation. To test this, we compiled individualized reports for each participating grower and evaluated whether the scoring system could detect differences in management history among samples from the same grower (Fig. 3).

The study involved 12 growers, each providing samples from 2 to 17 vineyard blocks. Overall, the scoring system successfully identified differences between vineyard blocks submitted by the same grower. Growers reported the scores either reinforced their management goals or highlighted areas where soil health management fell short of their targets. These findings demonstrate the soil health assessment framework can effectively support adaptive soil management in vineyards (Fig. 4).

Figure 4. Anonymized grower report example. Soil health ratings are greater in the vineyard blocks with adoption of multiple practices compared to vineyard blocks with only cover crops.

Successful Paths to a Healthy Vineyard Soil
Adopting soil health practices, such as cover cropping, composting, reduced tillage and grazing, involves costs and uncertainties, often with unclear timelines for measurable impacts. We used quantitative comparative analysis to explore conditions leading to soil health scores above 60%, revealing complex causal relationships.

Long-term cover cropping (10+ years) emerged as the most important factor for achieving high soil health scores, especially when combined with another regenerative practice. This benefit extended across the vineyard floor, improving soil health in both alleys and under-vine areas. Notably, the integration of livestock was identified as a key practice for accelerating soil health improvements, yielding measurable benefits even after less than 10 years of cover cropping.

Achieving high ASI and MinC scores appeared to require long-term adoption of more practices compared to high SOC scores. However, our findings suggest tailoring the right combination of practices to specific environmental conditions is more important than simply increasing the number of practices used.

Practical Implications for Vineyard Managers in California
Our study provides proof-of-concept for the use of SOC, MinC and ASI to evaluate vineyard soil health in California, supported by practical soil health scoring functions. This approach can help monitor vineyard soil health and inform adaptive management strategies. Given the variability of soil type and microclimate, growers are encouraged to experiment with different strategies to determine what works best for their conditions. While monitoring can identify effective practices, building soil health is a slow process that often takes over a decade. This underscores the need for long-term commitment, with monitoring intervals every few years being sufficient.

Winegrape growers can use our rating curves as a reference to monitor soil health. For SOC testing, ensure that labs report SOC specifically, rather than total carbon, especially in calcareous soils where high carbonates can skew results. Many labs also offer MinC (soil respiration) testing; our scoring functions are applicable as long as results are expressed in mg CO₂-C kg–¹ soil d–¹, regardless of preparation or incubation duration (one to four days). For ASI, only results obtained using the Soil Health Institute’s SLAKES test are compatible with our scoring functions. Growers can work with labs that use SLAKES or measure ASI in-house via the SLAKES app available at soilhealthinstitute.org/our-work/initiatives/slakes/.

Future Work
The scoring functions in our study are based on data from 87 vineyard blocks and reflect the progression in soil health scores that may occur over time with the implementation of a soil health management strategy. As more data becomes available, these scoring functions could be refined further to address specific soil types or microclimates.

Since the effectiveness of soil health management practices depends on factors like implementation (e.g., cover crop species, compost type, etc.) as well as soil type and environmental conditions, future research should focus on identifying the most effective combinations of practices for specific contexts.

Finally, soil health is rarely a management goal on its own. Future research should quantify the impact of improved soil health on key agronomic and environmental outcomes, including yield, grape quality, pest and disease pressure, pollution from leaching and runoff, biodiversity and climate change adaptation and mitigation.

This project was funded by the CDFA Specialty Crops Block Grant and the Foundation for Food and Agriculture Research. We thank all growers who participated in this study.

References
Hughes, H. M. et al. Towards a farmer-feasible soil health assessment that is globally applicable. Journal of Environmental Management 345, 118582 (2023).

Feeney, C. J. et al. Development of soil health benchmarks for managed and semi-natural landscapes. Science of The Total Environment 886, 163973 (2023).

Bünemann, E. B. Soil quality – A critical review. Soil Biology and Biochemistry 120, 105–125 (2018).

Shi. Recommended Measurements for Scaling Soil Health Assessment. (2024).

Fine, A. K., van Es, H. M. & Schindelbeck, R. R. Statistics, scoring functions, and regional analysis of a comprehensive soil health database. Soil Science Society of America Journal 81, 589–601 (2017).

Moebius-Clune, B. N. et al. Comprehensive Assessment of Soil Health – The Cornell Framework Manual. (2016).

Maharjan, B., Das, S. & Acharya, B. S. Soil Health Gap: A concept to establish a benchmark for soil health management. Global Ecology and Conservation 23, e01116 (2020).

Six, J., Doetterl, S., Laub, M., Müller, C. R. & Van de Broek, M. The six rights of how and when to test for soil C saturation. SOIL 10, 275–279 (2024).

Müller, T. & Höper, H. Soil organic matter turnover as a function of the soil clay content: consequences for model applications. Soil Biology and Biochemistry 36, 877–888 (2004).

Nunes, M. R. et al. SHAPEv1.0 Scoring curves and peer group benchmarks for dynamic soil health indicators. Soil Science Society of America Journal 88, 858–875 (2024).

Fajardo, M., McBratney, Alex. B., Field, D. J. & Minasny, B. Soil slaking assessment using image recognition. Soil and Tillage Research 163, 119–129 (2016).

Slakes: A Free Smartphone App to Measure Aggregate Stability. Soil Health Institute (2024). https://soilhealthinstitute.org/our-work/initiatives/slakes/#overview

Market Research Shows How to Win Up-and-Coming Consumers, Widen Wine’s Multicultural Appeal

By
Pam Strayer | Contributing Writer
-
0
61% of those studied preferred sustainable, family-owned brands, with 58% explicitly preferring organic (photo courtesy Maverick Farming.)

As marketers know, the adage “markets are conversations” still rings true, and a remarkably in-depth new study, “Attracting More Young Adults and Multicultural Consumers to Wine,” released December 17 by the Wine Market Council, underscores that in spades.

Currently, wine marketing can sometimes trend towards inertia. Example: With 68 million (out of 170 million) wine drinkers on TikTok, brands are intimidated by (and often absent from) the media platform favored by their newest customers. Innovation is lacking. Are these problems solvable?

Yes, according to the latest data from Mike Lakusta, CEO of Ethnifacts, and the Wine Market Council, which studied 1,816 consumers in their 20s and 30s to find out how that wine currently appeals, or does not, to younger consumers who are increasingly more diverse.

Said Lakusta, “We purposely oversampled the multicultural populations. About two-thirds of the people in this study were Hispanic, Black, Asian or other versus Caucasian, which is about 50% of this age cohort. For the purposes of this study, about two thirds was multicultural,” because researchers wanted to explore these segments in greater detail.

In addition, “20% of the surveys for Hispanics were done in Spanish,” he said, “so we could make sure we were getting good representation, and that is about the percentage of Spanish dominant in the country.”

While the mountain of data substantiates current perceptions, the authors found many eye-opening ways to improve wine marketing at every level.

Inclusion as a Game Changer: Overcoming the Culture Gap
With the multicultural demographics of the U.S alcoholic beverage drinker expanding, the data clearly shows a gap exists. While 52% of respondents found wine relaxing, only 12% felt wine was connected to their culture.

54% said they preferred to buy wine from someone of their own culture.

Therefore, the study recommended making marketing images reflect more diverse demographics.

“When asked who the typical wine drinker is, 35% of Hispanics, 34% of Asians and 27% of Blacks said they were of a different culture than them versus only 13% of non-Hispicanic Whites,” the study authors wrote. “Marketing portrayals of wine drinkers must become more inclusive to attract new consumers.”

Wine Pigeonholed for Formal Occasions and Gift Giving
Wine positioning should be more about fun and less about formal, the study found, with respondents saying they associated wine with a high-end restaurant meal (59%) or as a good choice at an Italian restaurant.

Only 10% said a concert or sport event was a good wine occasion.

While their ideal retail price point while shopping off-premise remains $10 to $20, the data showed this group often prefers small cans or bag in box wines, allowing retailers better price flexibility in meeting the $10 to $20 purchase price.

Relatable Wine Marketing
Counteracting that formal occasion mindset, Lakusta pointed out the wine shop Pairings Portland, run by retailer Jeff Weissler, has made wine tastings very relatable, hosting shop tastings focused on Taylor Swift’s Eras tour, Harry Potter, Dune, Lord of the Rings, Pride and Prejudice, Tarot for 2025, Disney Princesses and more.

The study also showed 61% of those studied preferred sustainable, family-owned brands, with 58% explicitly preferring organic (80% of the wines offered at Weissler’s shop are organically farmed.)

Paint and sip events were also popular at other venues.

A recent study by Wine Market Council, “Attracting More Young Adults and Multicultural Consumers to Wine,” found wine positioning should be more about fun and less about formal, with respondents saying they associated wine with a high-end restaurant meal (59%) or as a good choice at an Italian restaurant (courtesy Wine Market Council.)

Better Wine Descriptions and More Wine Cocktails
In the on-premise world, the study found a startling contrast between the way regular cocktails were marketed on menus, with appealing descriptions of their flavors and ingredients, while wine by the glass had little to no descriptions on menus.

“Wine marketers must demand better wine menus, lists and choices at on-premise,” the study authors wrote. “All groups indicate they wish there were more wine choices at on-premise and there was more information about the wines they can choose. Lack of descriptions and taste information make wine less appealing.”

The study also found wine cocktails were a hot, on-prem opportunity with 72% of 20- and 30-somethings saying they would be likely to purchase wine in that form.

Roughly 30% to 40% of them were aware of wine slushies, frose, wine cocktails mixed with spirits, wine spritzers and wine aperitif cocktails (with Aperol, Campari, etc.).

The Infamous Wall of Wine: It Only Gets Worse Online
Echoing previous studies, the wall of wine in retail continues to be an obstacle for most consumers, with 25% to 30% saying they are overwhelmed. They say wine aisles should be “better organized.” Most reported buying by a brand they know (as a way to combat the overwhelm).

Online, they tend to buy wine at a grocery store’s site (44%) or liquor/wine brick and mortar store’s site (42%). 33% buy from a strictly online retailer (e.g., wine.com) and 28% buy online from a winery.

When shopping online, they pay most attention to peer reviews (39%), similar to their shopping habits for other types of purchases.

20% say wine shopping online is harder to navigate than in a store.

Echoing previous studies, the wall of wine in retail continues to be an obstacle for most consumers, with 25% to 30% saying they are overwhelmed.

Wine Additives Give Them Headaches
An unusual finding: Between 15% and 20% of respondents said wine gives them headaches, leading the study’s authors to write, “Marketing methods utilized to minimize this could have an effect on up to 20% of consumers.”

Dry whites (Sauvignon Blanc or Pinot Grigio) and sparkling wines all have lower histamine levels compared to red wines.

Light at the End of the Tunnel: Millennials
While earlier reports have blamed wine’s slower sales on younger drinkers, Lakusta did not embrace that point of view. “There’s a very good light at the end of the tunnel, particularly with millennials when they hit their 30s,” he said.

The full webinar and data are available to Wine Market Council members. Membership information is available on their website at winemarketcouncil.com/join.

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