Protecting your vineyard from market volatility and other uncertainties starts with your capital management strategy and surrounding yourself with people who can provide partnership and expertise to enable your success (photo by Rick de Jong, Agro-K.)
When we think of profitability, it’s common to use a simple, black and white theory: Spend less on producing your crop than what you can sell it for. Developing a successful profitability equation is much more nuanced. Grape growers who take the time to develop a solid financial foundation and proactive plan give themselves an edge when it comes to overcoming the challenges of earning a profit.
Many variables can negatively impact profitability: labor costs, water access/availability, changes in pest management strategy, etc. Your chances of success will increase if your financial position is stable and capable of adapting to variable conditions, whether caused by economic or environmental forces, or a combination of the two.
Grape growers can take steps to strengthen their financial position if they consider a few critical factors that will impact profitability this year.
Where Can You Find Cost Savings?
Despite many costs creeping up, there are savings to be had if you look in the right places. As a starting point, it’s a good practice to review your interest expense and research different lending options that could have the potential to lower the overall cost of borrowing.
Over the last few years, growers have seen a much higher percentage of their profits eaten up by interest expenses due to rising interest rates. At least in the short term, interest rates will continue to be a big topic of concern for growers. Despite more-active-than-expected inflation data, in May the Federal Reserve decided to maintain interest rates at their current levels for the sixth-straight meeting, keeping rates at a 23-year high as they wait for more reassuring signs of controlled inflation before considering a rate cut. You can’t control rates, but you can take advantage of promotional offers alongside traditional fixed-rate financing to avoid overpaying on interest expenses. In many cases, this approach will bring the total effective interest rate down to a level that, when consolidated, lands below Prime.
Take a hypothetical example where a grape grower finances an equal amount for three different input purchases over the same financing period. In addition to their own in-house financing offer, a retailer may have access to a variety of promotional rate offers on some brands. For example, a financing package might look like:
Product A at 9% APR
Product B at 2% APR
Product C at 4% APR
If this grower paid for these products with their operating line of credit, they would be looking at a financing rate ranging between 7% to 11% APR. If this same grower used the blended approach and took advantage of the option to finance the purchase of all three products, they would bring their effective interest rate down to 5% APR, which adds up to meaningful savings on interest expense.
Proactive Cash Flow Considerations
It’s not enough to have the right mix of crop nutrition and protection products; you have to go a step further and think about how and when you’re paying for those products, and checking that strategy to make sure you are giving yourself the most flexibility when it comes to managing your money.
Grape growers also need to look closely at their cash flow to ensure profitability. Those who evaluate the terms of their financing programs and line up payment due dates with the crop schedule will create more financial stability for their operation, which can pay dividends when you come up against the unexpected.
Say your crop is infested with bunch rot near harvest. You may not have cash on hand for a few more months until harvest proceeds are recorded, but if you take the time now, in early season, to diversify your capital and use financing programs strategically, you’ll be able to preserve cash from your operating line. Imagine down the road, come harvest time when your financial picture is probably a little tighter, the relief you’ll feel knowing your operating line isn’t fully leveraged and you still have some flexibility. Consider how your needs may shift between now and harvest and look for ways that you can give yourself more options in terms of how and when to spend your capital.
Protect Your Vineyards Against Market Volatility and Other Uncertainties
This year, like every other year, you are going to face challenges. Some may be driven by the market, others by Mother Nature and more still by things you probably haven’t considered. Most of these variables are beyond your control; no one has a crystal ball to show where the market will go, and it’s hard to predict how consumer preferences are going to shift and how that will impact variety selection and decisions to protect the health and vitality of your vineyard. The inherent challenge in the ag industry is for growers to come up with a winning plan despite success being so dependent on variables beyond your control. It may leave you feeling powerless, but there are a few proven strategies you can implement to protect your operation, create some peace of mind for your financial security, and prepare to respond to whatever comes your way.
Start with your capital management strategy and surround yourself with people who can provide partnership and expertise to enable your success. It may seem like a basic principle, but diversification is also critical to manage your risk. Especially when it comes to your finances, don’t underestimate the value of having a diverse stream of capital to pull from. This ensures you aren’t overextending yourself, and that you have more options when it comes to sourcing capital.
Having a sound financial plan is also a helpful practice to develop useful contingency plans and to avoid situations where you might take a financial hit because of something unexpected. Financing crop inputs enables you to keep cash on-hand so your backup plan has maximum flexibility to respond to unforeseen expenses. On the flip side, growers who use their operating note to pay for operational expenses may not have as much financial latitude. Something growers may lack if they use their operating note to pay for operational expenses.
Summer is a great time to develop or adjust your financial plan with an eye toward profitability. If you invest the time and energy in setting up a solid financial foundation for the year ahead, there’s no reason to believe 2024 won’t be your most successful year.
Jacquelyn Fernandes is a territory manager with Nutrien Financial. She provides financing expertise to growers throughout the western U.S. to increase their buying power and maximize every opportunity for success. Learn more at NutrienFinancial.com.
Katerina Axelsson, founder and CEO of Tastry, which uses artificial intelligence to predict which wines an individual is going to like before they try them, sometimes even before they become aware of them (all photos courtesy of K. Axelsson.)
Wineries are starting to use artificial intelligence (AI) to predict which wines an individual is going to like before they try them, sometimes even before they become aware of them.
“We can predict the Vivino (Wine Rating System) score with 93% accuracy just by looking at the chemistry of the wine,” said Katerina Axelsson, founder and CEO of Tastry, which uses technology that compares information about a wine’s chemistry with a database of 248 million consumer palates. “We’ve been in the industry for several cycles, so winemakers and wineries can see what they submitted to us is what actually happened.
“One of the biggest reasons, especially going into this year, that a winery should use Tastry is to find the consumers that are going to be loyal, repeat customers,” she said. “We have this belief that every wine is a Screaming Eagle for someone out there. Your wine has a market for it; the challenge is how do you get to those consumers without wasting all your marketing money?”
“Using [this] technology, I can understand instantly the market size for a particular wine and also the best way to optimize a wine based on its intended audience, be it retailer or consumer,” said Cameron Hughes, founder of de Négoce, which sources and sells thousands of premium wines directly to consumers. “Katerina Axelsson basically taught a computer to taste wine.”
Helping Smaller Wineries
Tastry helps provide solutions to the challenges faced by smaller wineries.
“We found that small- and medium-sized producers struggled to be seen among the corporate giants who dominate distribution and digital channels,” states the company website. “This led to the creation of an in-winery experience that powers virtual tasting of the complete line of that producer’s product.”
Axelsson said when AI is properly applied, the return on a winery’s investment is $44 to $215 for every dollar it spends using the technology.
She described Tastry as “a vertically integrated product.”
“We have been referred to as the matchmaker in the industry,” she said. “We connect retailers and wineries, we connect wineries and consumers, we connect retailers to consumers, and now we’re connecting distributors to wineries and retailers.
“We touch the entire supply chain, and we’re only a team of 30 people,” she continued. “Shifting the paradigm of any industry is an ordeal in and of itself, so we figured we needed to have discipline and focus on doing one thing really well.”
There have been serious temptations to get Tastry to stray from that goal. Major corporations such as Pepsi, British American Tobacco and Nestlé have all inquired about using Tastry in their industries, according to Axelsson.
“We’ve had to be very disciplined and say, ‘No, we’re really focused on the wine industry right now,’” she said.
Tastry can predict the Vivino (Wine Rating System) score with 93% accuracy just by looking at the chemistry of a wine.
Tastry currently has limited, if any competition, according to Axelsson.
“I wouldn’t say I have any direct competitors,” she said. “If we have any competitors at all, it would be like an adjacent competitor that’s pursuing the attention of a consumer, but when it comes to the technology, I haven’t found a better answer than we really are the first company to do something like this, whether you look at the technology or the business model.”
Origins
Axelsson attended California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo where she studied chemistry and winemaking, graduating with a B.S. degree in chemistry.
“I paid my way through college by working in the wine industry,” she said, estimating there are about 400 wineries in a 40-mile radius around the university. She did various jobs for some of those wineries before ending up working in a winery lab.
“I was young and ambitious, and curious,” she said. “I started to notice idiosyncrasies and pain points in the wine industry. The biggest thing I noticed was wineries were investing a lot of years, and in some cases millions of dollars, in making a wine for consumers. It’s kind of a shot in the dark; you’re dealing with nature and you can manipulate the outcome of the chemistry to an extent, but it’s a very reactive process, and what your preferences are or what your vision for the final product is doesn’t always correspond to whether the consumer likes it.”
When AI for predicting a wine’s success is properly applied, the return on a winery’s investment is $44 to $215 for every dollar it spends using the technology.
Axelsson described the winemaking process as “very intuitive and not data-driven.” She noted there was an 85% failure rate when launching any kind of wine.
“The reason for that failure rate, I learned, is because you can sell someone almost anything once,” she said. “You can pick up a bottle of wine because it has a nice label or it looks interesting, but if you don’t like what’s in the bottle, you’re not going to buy it again, and the product is going to fail because it can’t get repeat purchases.”
Axelsson had “a hypothesis” that there was a way to understand what consumers really like and what their flavor preferences really were.
“If we were looking at the chemistry, we were looking at chemistry as a quality control mechanism,” she explained. “We weren’t looking at how consumers perceive that chemistry.”
Axelsson started Tastry based on the results of a two-year research project to determine if there was an analytical chemistry method that could break down the flavor matrix and relate it to the human palate.
“It turns out there’s a way to do that,” she said, adding that discovery resulted in Tastry eventually incorporating in 2016.
“We just incorporated so we could get an SBA loan to get our own analytical equipment, and we could start running experiments,” said Axelsson. “At that point, it was just myself and a Ph.D. in mathematics, and one other person. For two years since mid-2016, it was just a research project. It wasn’t until December 2021 that we launched an actual commercialized solution.
“When I started, I thought the challenge would be to build this revolutionary technology,” she said. “It took many years and millions of dollars, and the faith of a lot of people who might never get a return on their investment. I thought that would be the hard part.”
Instead, the biggest challenge Tastry faced was convincing winemakers to think about things differently and change the way they have been doing things their entire life, said Axelsson. “When it comes to AI, especially with a traditional industry like the wine industry, it’s not a ‘you build it and they will come’ kind of thing. There was a lot of education that had to take place, a lot of relationships had to be built, and we had to establish trust in the industry.
“We have worked really hard to establish trust with the top wineries, and we have a lot of winemakers on our website that publicly share their endorsements or the case studies they have had with Tastry,” she added.
“Tastry can do in an hour what would take weeks to do, and give you options depending on your target audience and price point, allowing winemakers to optimize their wines for their audience in a way never achievable before,” said Hughes. “Tastry doesn’t tell you how to make wine; it just gives you various options, saves you huge amounts of time, and, at the end of the day, you pick the wine you want to sell.”
“It might seem a little odd to use AI at first, but when they see what it actually is and how it’s applied, the fear of it being ‘the Terminator’ or anything like that dissipates pretty quickly,” said Axelsson. “It’s not what you imagine it is. It’s just another tool in the toolbox, and it’s just another paintbrush for the artist.
“It’s been an incredible tool for so many businesses,” she added. “We’ve saved entire productions, especially during smoke season, and I think we’re going to be seeing a lot more of that this year.”
One winery saved $10 million worth of smoke-tainted fruit when Tastry’s AI technology provided a recipe within 24 hours, just before the fruit had to be dropped, she said.
For more information about Tastry, visit the company website at https://tastry.com.
Niner Wine Estates in Paso Robles, Calif. takes the opportunity to be philanthropic in its community wherever possible (all photos courtesy Niner Wine Estates.)
The availability of information has changed the way businesses operate and engage with customers. While a company can offer solutions to everyday problems through their innovative products and specialized services, price and convenience are no longer the sole determinants of their success. Consumers seek to align their spending habits with their personal values. Thanks to the digitized world, they have the tools to find out if a company is a good fit.
Today’s shopper understands when they make a purchase, their money does more than buy a product or service. Their dollars also support the mission and initiatives of the business they purchased from. In today’s socially conscious marketplace, consumers want to know how the businesses they support make a positive impact.
70% of Americans believe it’s important for companies to make the world a better place. Shareholders hold a similar sentiment: 73% of investors stated efforts to improve the environment and society contribute to their investment decisions (Aflac 2019).
In fact, some will even part ways with a brand over a conflict in values. Three-quarters of participants in a 2022 Harris Poll research survey reported having done just that. In the same survey, 39% said a values mismatch would lead them to permanently boycott their favorite brand, and 24% would break ties at least temporarily (Consumer Goods Technology 2022).
When it comes to making a positive change toward sustainability, “Consumers see themselves, along with for-profit companies, as the primary catalysts for change,” (Business Wire 2021). But organizations shouldn’t participate in these efforts blindly.
A company’s philanthropic endeavors should reflect their mission and align with their core values. The beauty of a successful philanthropy program is it isn’t a one-size fits-all approach; it can and should be as unique as the business that embraces it.
Realize the Need for Redirection
Wineries are often asked to donate bottles or cases of wine for local fundraising events. Niner Wine Estates in Paso Robles, Calif. used to participate in these often. While making donations of this sort did align with certain elements of the business, Andrew Niner, now president of the SIP Certified ® sustainable estate, felt like there were more impactful ways the business could give back.
“When you operate a business in a small town, it is important to reinvest in the community that supports you,” said Niner. “These wine donations felt a bit misdirected; it didn’t feel like we were having a real impact. So, we decided to cut back on these and redirect our efforts to supporting one to three local charities each year. Now, we have more of an active role and are meaningfully involved in our community, and we see the impact.”
Focus Locally
Local investments directly improve the quality of life for people in the community. They also give businesses the opportunity to build relationships with other organizations and make connections with individuals that share their values.
Niner Wine Estates is a supporter of MUST! Charities, a nonprofit organization also based in Paso Robles. This organization identifies critical community needs and vets local non-profit organizations that specifically serve those needs. MUST! Charities then invests funds and strategic planning into the non-profit to strengthen their focus and impact.
Niner also supports a local program that hones in on uplifting the people of the wine industry: the Juan Nevarez Memorial Scholarship. This program helps the children of California’s vineyard and winery industry achieve their dreams of higher education through financial and support services. 100% of every donation goes directly to the recipients, and Niner has been helping these deserving students since 2017.
Niner’s philosophy around charitable investments emphasizes the importance of transparency. When asked if the business shares their investments with customers, he said it’s something he always makes a point to do.
“If they are buying your product, they should know what you support.” Once a year, the company shares a Philanthropy Report outlining how much and where they invested.
In addition to the annual newsletter, the winery also spreads charity awareness through their wine club communications. Niner believes these communications help raise awareness of meaningful causes within the community.
Volunteering time and services are equally impactful as monetary charity. Niner Wine Estates employees volunteer with the El Camino Homeless Organization every month to prepare and serve meals.
Bring in the Team
But customers aren’t the only people who are interested in these insights. Jobseekers in Millennial and Generation Z age groups consider a company’s environmental and social contributions when they are on the hunt. What they crave is alignment with their own values.
Nearly 9 out of 10 Millennial and Gen Z professionals are open to changing jobs if they found a company whose values closely aligned with their own. These individuals “prioritize a sense of purpose and meaningful connections to the company’s values as these factors contribute significantly to job satisfaction and commitment,” (LinkedIn 2023).
Once hired, employees who feel an alignment with their company’s mission, vision and values are far more likely to recommend their employer as a great place to work and say their work gives them a feeling of personal accomplishment (Qualtrics 2022). This highlights an opportunity for business leaders to engage their staff in the company’s philanthropic endeavors.
Niner inspires and encourages his staff to get involved. Employees are given the opportunity to allocate $2,000 each year to any charity of their choice. Niner said as well as giving staff ownership and a meaningful stake in the community, these staff-directed donations show him what his staff are passionate about and help to raise his own awareness of deserving charities.
While charitable funds make a considerable impact, monetary gifts are not the only way for a business to invest in the community. Volunteering time and services are equally impactful. Plus, these pursuits offer individuals hands-on experience in positively influencing members of their community.
Niner Wine Estates supports the Juan Nevarez Memorial Scholarship, a local program helping the children of California’s vineyard and winery industry achieve their dreams of higher education through financial and support services.
The El Camino Homeless Organization (ECHO) provides essential services for community members in need, including showers, laundry and clean clothes, and meals. Every month, staff members of Niner Wine Estates volunteer through this organization to prepare and serve meals. Niner said that it’s a great team-building activity that’s good for the company culture. He appreciates the team can have a direct and impactful experience giving back.
Niner compared their philanthropy strategy to an investment strategy. “If you invest in a ton of different things, you can lose track of exactly where your money is going and what it’s doing. But if you invest in just a couple of things, you can have more of an active role in your investments and really know your impact.”
Giving back is good for business. On top of uplifting communities, meaningful philanthropic strategies can improve company culture and cultivate consumer trust. The efforts Niner Wine Estates makes to enhance transparency about their philanthropy help their customers know when they enjoy a bottle of wine or visit the estate for a tasting, meal or event, they are supporting all the good work this business does in its community.
Consumers’ needs and interests are constantly evolving. So are those of a business. Sustainably run businesses know to stay relevant and successful, they must be aware of opportunities to adapt. The next Sustainable Story shares how an estate vineyard and winery in Arroyo Grande, Calif. ensures its staff continually improve their skills and expand their knowledge.
Scheid Family Wines Founder Al Scheid (middle) with his two children, Heidi (right) and Scott (left), who each got degrees in finance and outside experience in the finance industry before joining the family business as Executive Vice President and President, respectively.
Scheid Family Wines in Monterey County uniquely shows how two generations of leaders in one family can successfully navigate the twists and turns of California’s wine industry over a span of 51 years yet innovate and grow the business, even in trying times. The winery’s success is the result of its nimble and agile approach as it explores different paths to profit.
Its newest wine brand, Sunny with a Chance of Flowers, shot to Hot Brand status in 2021, rivaling the performance of millennial and Gen Z favorite Josh wine. The winery also launched its first TV commercial to support Sunny’s launch.
In 1972, business-savvy executive Al Scheid, a graduate of Harvard Business School, started the Scheid Family Wines, originally Monterey Farming Corp, as a tax loss venture, initially buying 10 acres of vines. Today, the company has 12 estate vineyards over a 70-mile stretch of the Salinas Valley (all photos courtesy Scheid Family Wines.)
In 2023, Wine Business ranked Scheid as the 25th largest winery in the U.S. It has 3,000+ acres of vineyards in Monterey County with annual sales of 900,000 cases. 60% of its business is in private labels (it makes 45 of them today for major retailers) and 40% of its business is in its 10 branded wines. It supplies 90% of the grapes for all the wines, buying 10%, including Paso Robles Cabernet (for a client who wanted Paso on a label).
The winery makes 100,000 cases a year of its new greatest hit, Sunny with a Chance of Flowers, in the Better for You (BFY) category, one which grew in dollar sales 13.3% (NIQ scan data from March 24, 2023-24) compared to non-BFY wines, which declined 1.5% in the same period. Unit sales were up 14.2% for BFY wine while non-BFY wines declined 4.3% in unit sales.
That new brand was an early entrant in the BFY space, thanks to Heidi Scheid perusing the grocery aisle for up-and-coming trends. It was there she also noticed consumers and products that said “no sugar” were gaining ground.
In 1972, business-savvy executive Al Scheid, a graduate of Harvard Business School, started the company as a tax loss venture, initially buying 10 acres of vines.
The company grew and grew as grape growers and then bulk winemakers selling to major brands. Today, it has 12 estate vineyards over a 70-mile stretch of the Salinas Valley.
In 2005, Scheid built its own winery, making private label wines, and in 2012 launched its own brands.
Scheid Family Wines makes 100,000 cases a year of its new greatest hit, Sunny with a Chance of Flowers, in the Better for You category. Its appeal factors include 9% alcohol, 85 calories per serving and zero sugar.
Financial prowess is baked into the heritage. Two of Al’s children, Heidi Scheid and Scott Scheid, each got degrees in finance and outside experience in the finance industry before joining the family business as Executive Vice President and President, respectively.
Scheid’s entry into finished wines has been fairly spectacular, growing from 4,000 to 700,000 cases in less than 10 years. The producer aims to get to a million cases by 2025.
In 2020, Wine Enthusiast honored Heidi with its Winestar award for Person of the Year.
Today, the company’s original and most expensive brand, Scheid Vineyards, features wines ranging in price from $28 to $90, fueled by direct-to-consumer sales. It has two tasting rooms: one in the popular wine tourist town of Carmel and the other in Greenfield in Salinas Valley. It’s arcing into the future with next-generation wine brands focused on younger and health-conscious consumers.
Targeting Gen Z and Millenials with Better for You, Low-Alcohol or Organic Brands
Scheid’s finished wine brands are on a roll, chasing younger and more health-conscious consumers with BFY, low-alcohol bottled wines as well as canned, fruit-flavored, low-alcohol spritzers and organically grown wines. All three are gluten free and vegan.
Introduced in 2020, Sunny with a Chance of Flowers ($17 to $20) is a big hit in the marketplace, growing from 11,000 to 100,000 cases now with the support of major retailers.
Sunny’s slogan, “Moderation has never tasted so good!”, messages its major appeal: 9% alcohol, 85 calories per serving and zero sugar.
Made with natural extracts and botanicals, Hoxie is similarly positioned with 5% alcohol, 90 calories and no added sugar. Hoxie first became popular in hipster circles in Los Angeles as brand creator and founder Josh Rosenstein, a former chef, concocted staff drinks with wine, fruit and herbs.
The grapes (Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, Petite Sirah and Sauvignon blanc) are all grown by Scheid. The three canned, flavored wines include Strawberry Rosé and Lemon Ginger Rosé along with Grapefruit Elderflower, its most popular. Wine Enthusiast gave Hoxie a 91-point score.
Since it has partnered with Scheid, Hoxie sells in BevMo, Sprouts, Target, Whole Foods and independent wine shops. Rosenstein is now Scheid’s Director of Alternative Beverages.
“I think alternative packaging in cans is also important,” Heidi said. “I think canned products are really suited to lower alcohol, and something that has some spritz, not still wine.”
Expanding its spritz niche, Scheid also partnered with Q Mixers to complement its Sunny wines, offering consumers more spritz flavor options. Sunny’s website leverages the cocktail craze with recipes that mix in everything from watermelon slices or ginger beer to alcoholic add-ins. Examples include elderflower-based St. Germain liqueur with Pinot Noir for a “Red Blossom” or tequila for a wine-based “Sunny-rita.”
Scheid Family Wines Founder Al Scheid (middle) with his two children, Heidi (right) and Scott (left), who each got degrees in finance and outside experience in the finance industry before joining the family business as Executive Vice President and President, respectively.
Birth of a New Brand with Positivity: Sunny with a Chance of Flowers
Speaking in March at the Wine Market Council’s annual meeting, Scheid told the audience how she zeroed in on the BFY category and the importance of zero sugar before launching her Sunny with a Chance of Flowers brand.
“Why did White Claw become so popular so quickly?” she asked. “I think a lot of it is labeling. It has 5% alcohol right there at the top of the label. It says 100 calories at the top. It has ‘gluten free.’”
She said the wine producers could learn from that.
“We in the wine industry are not really known for good labeling in terms of giving consumers information. There are a lot of zero-sugar wines out there. Consumers don’t know which ones they are. And they have to kind of figure that out, by trial and error, whether it tastes sweet to them or not. So, we took a look at White Claw and just thought, ‘Okay, there’s something there that they’re doing that we’re not doing.’”
At the same time, she said, “We were seeing all these news articles about low [or] no-alcohol trends and lifestyles. We really started to ask ourselves, ‘Where does wine fit into this lifestyle conversation?’”
She set out to create a brand with low alcohol and high transparency.
“If making wine is hard, making a low-alcohol wine is harder, and making a low-alcohol, zero-sugar wine that tastes really great is super-duper hard,” she said. Scheid uses a reverse osmosis process to curb the alcohol levels. She wondered if ‘zero sugar’ really had to be in the mix.
“Taking a lesson from other product categories convinced us sugar is a very important attribute to consumers, and they want to know what the level of sugar is,” she said.
Sustainability has also proved to be a market differentiator, she said. Scheid is certified sustainable by the Wine Institute’s CSWA program, won the California Green Medal Environment Award in 2019 and has been 100% powered by wind for seven years.
Scheid credits brand developer Theresa Scripps for the Sunny brand name and packaging.
“In terms of lifestyle attributes, we really wanted to project positivity. We wanted it to lean into moderation. When we were originally launching Sunny, there was pushback from people saying, ‘Wine is already the drink of moderation. Why do we need a healthier version of wine?’”
Heidi responded, “Because we can do better. I can lean into that more for people who really are interested in pursuing moderation and who are interested in consumption.”
Pivoting to Organics–Grandeur
Transparency and going after a distinct market segment are also high on the priority list with Scheid’s organically grown Grandeur brand, produced solely from the company’s 667 acres of certified organic grapes.
After originally announcing it would convert all 3,000+ acres to organic, Scheid dialed back its organic expansion plans, responding both to the market and its initial organic conversion efforts which found that vines in its coolest, coastal and northern areas (regions I, II and III, according to the Winkler index) struggled with mildew.
“It’s really kind of just pushing ourselves as growers to see what’s possible in our region,” Heidi said.
The vineyard team found greater success with its warmer, southerly vineyards in Hames Valley (classified Region IV in the Winkler index) focusing initially on Petite Sirah. Cabernet Franc, Malbec and Petit Verdot soon followed. The Region IV organic vines are close to the San Luis Obispo County border with Paso Robles.
“We cut our teeth on organic farming on the 90-acre White Flower Vineyard,” she said. “We were able to start it off as organic rather than doing the conversion, which is a little more complex. We found we can be pretty successful down there.”
Scheid said the winery has plenty of grapes for its organic program, selling Grandeur at Whole Foods, Natural Grocers and Total Wine. “The organic market is still pretty nascent,” she said. “Going organic–that’s a big ship to turn. It’ll be interesting to see how that space unfolds over the next few years.”
But organics’ appeal to younger consumers is compelling, she said.
According to Bonterra, sales of organically farmed wines grew 7% in 2023 in a year when overall wine sales declined. Scheid’s Aristotle brand, a $12.99 Whole Foods exclusive from Scheid’s organically grown Petite Sirah, outperformed peers in a year when the brand changed from sustainable to organic and redesigned its label. Aristotle’s depletions were up 7% in 2022 over the previous year, while similarly priced Petite Sirah wines were down 24%, a Scheid spokesperson said.
In addition, Scheid’s organically grown wines have ingredient labeling. “I think younger people care very much about how their products they consume are made and what’s in them,” Heidi said. “They want a level of transparency. Grandeur has ingredient labeling on the back. I don’t see that happening very much across the industry.”
Into the Future: Engagement and Portfolio Diversity Are Key to Success
Scheid looks at the evolving wine landscape as an opportunity to broaden the offerings. Wellness is one way to build engagement. Organics is another. And transparency is another option.
“A brand has to deliver the right price for that particular consumer to meet them where they are,” she said.
Though the winery has 10 brands of its own, Scheid said Sunny is the No. 1 priority. “It’s our largest brand and very much has the support of our retailers who are seeing great success within that ‘Better for You’ category,” she said.
“Building brand loyalty is a different game these days. It’s tougher. I think Sunny with a Chance of Flowers wins because it has this really positive brand ethos. Many people are drawn to that. We definitely have extremely loyal consumers of Sunny, which is great to see. We hear from them a lot, through social media and DMs. People are really engaged.
“There’s always going to be that consumer that wants the bigger, bolder wine,” she continued. “We certainly have that in our portfolio. And there are people that buy at different price points. But the younger consumer who we’re trying to on-ramp into wine has so many choices in front of them, a really astounding number of choices just when they walk into a store. And then if they get onto their phones, which they’re typically on quite a bit, there’s just a whole world out there. So how do we create something that excites them?”
Younger drinkers are much more focused on drinking according to the occasion, she said. And that calls for variety.
“I will always love the classically made wines. I think that’s where people will end up or will at least have as part of their repertoire. They might drink Sunny with a Chance of Flowers where that really fits what they’re trying to do on a Tuesday night and then Hoxie by the pool on a Saturday or down at the beach. And then hopefully, they’ll drink a beautiful, classically made Chardonnay or Pinot Noir or a Cabernet on Friday and Saturday night. There’s room for all of it. And I think that’s what consumers want these days is that choice of having a wine that suits the occasion.”
That variety of wine can maintain wine’s universal appeal, she said.
“That applies to people whether they’re young moms, or middle aged, or like my mom who’s 86 who had given up drinking. Sunny pulled her back into the wine world. She has her little glass of Sunny Sauvignon Blanc at 5 p.m. every day, and then a glass of Sunny Pinot Noir with dinner at night. They’re the littlest pours you’ve ever seen. But she loves having this 9% option available.”
Heidi’s mom was a wine drinker her entire life, and is extremely healthy, but stopped drinking for two years because her doctor said he didn’t know if she should be drinking wine at her age.
“She was really sad that she had to give up wine,” said Scheid.
“When we first bottled it, I dropped off some Sunny bottles for her, and she called me that night, and was literally crying, saying, ‘You have allowed me to reclaim a piece of my life that I had to give up. Because you don’t understand what it’s like to be in your 80s, nobody gives you anything to add to your life. They only take away things like you’re not supposed to do. So finally, I get to have something come back into my life.’”
When mixed with water and allowed to sit at least two hours, powdered or crystalline acrylamides will turn into hydrogels, which can be used as part of an ant bait system.
Researchers are looking to the super-absorbent hydrogel technology behind disposable baby diapers as part of a possible ant management system.
\Although the hydrogels still need California Department of Pesticide Regulation (CDPR) approval for use as adjuvants, David Haviland, UCCE integrated pest management advisor in Kern County, said he’s hopeful it will come shortly.
Developing better ant control is part of an integrated approach to reducing the amount of grapevine leafroll associated virus-3 and vitivirus in grape vines, said Stephanie Bolton, Lodi Winegrape Commission grower research and education director. That’s because ants transport and tend vine mealybugs within the vineyard for their honeydew. In addition, ants disrupt integrated pest management by protecting mealybugs from natural predators. Mealybugs, in turn, transmit viruses as they feed on the vines.
If growers can reduce ant populations, then along with other IPM measures like mealybug mating disruption, biological control and roguing infected vines, they should in theory be able to help slow virus spread.
Haviland, who has been working on a gel ant bait system with Extension colleagues for several years, demonstrated mixing and application during a recent Lodi Winegrape Commission field day in a Lodi-area vineyard.
He’s not alone. Monica Cooper, UCCE viticulture advisor for Napa County, conducted a pilot study in 2015 followed by two years of replicated field trials in North Coast vineyards in 2016 and 2017 looking at gel-based ant baits. She found the system significantly reduced Argentine ant populations providing users correctly identified the target ant species and the pesticide concentration in the gel mixture produced delayed toxicity.
Chlorpyrifos Alternatives
The latest round of gel ant bait trials was a result of a $1.34 million CDPR grant looking at alternatives to chlorpyrifos, a now-banned insecticide. The researchers focused on ant species that feed on sugar.
Commercial ant baits that attract protein- or lipid-feeding ants, such as Southern fire ants or pavement ants, are already available. Almond growers, for example, apply them to their orchards about six weeks before harvest to control ants that feed on almonds drying on the ground after shaking.
These baits typically use soybean oil as an attractant and contain a small amount of a toxicant or insect growth regulator. The theory is worker ants take the material back to the colony, where they feed it to other workers, larvae and the queen. Eventually, the colony collapses. If the pesticide acts too quickly, it kills off only a portion of the workers, and the colony can rebuild.
Know Thy Ant Species
Proper ant identification is important to determine whether ants are pests and to ensure the correct bait. More than 275 ant species are found in the state, but only a handful are considered agricultural pests, Haviland said.
In Lodi-area vineyards, the main ant pests are the native gray ant (Formica aerate) and pavement ant (Tetramorium immigrans), while in North Coast vineyards and southern San Joaquin Valley grapes and citrus, Argentine ants (Linepithema humile) are the predominant ant pest.
Native gray, pavement and Argentine ants are attracted to sugar-containing substances, including honeydew produced by Asian citrus psyllid (which can transmit citrus greening, also known as huanglongbing) and mealybugs.
Monitoring can be done using cotton balls soaked in a 25% sugar water solution. Sample one out of every 20 rows. Within the target row, place a cotton ball within 5 inches of a vine trunk once every 30 vines.
Wait two hours and return to count the number of ants. Rather than counting individual insects, Haviland said it’s often easier to score them zero for none, 1 for a few, 2 for about 11 to 49 and 3 for 50 or more.
UCCE IPM Advisor David Haviland mounted a Herd spreader on an ATV to apply gel ant bait in vineyard trials.
Seeking Better Ant Control
Baits for sugar-feeding ants must be in liquid form to be attractive, so granulated sugar doesn’t work well. In addition, sugary liquid baits only work during the spring. Once insect pests begin producing honeydew, ants will instead gravitate toward them.
Although liquid bait dispensers are available for sugar-feeding ants, Haviland said the number required per acre to be effective in vineyards makes them unfeasible for commercial growers. That led researchers to look at hydrogels that can retain moisture for several hours as potential carriers.
UC Riverside Biological Control Specialist Mark Hoddle examined sodium alginate gels made from seaweed as carriers for minute amounts of pesticides. After two years of trials in citrus, he found the gel baits significantly reduced ants, which allowed natural enemies to attack the psyllid as well as other sap-sucking pests. As a result, the amount of new citrus flush infested with Asian citrus psyllid decreased by 75%, and the number of citrus mealybugs were reduced by 50%.
Although more than 200 ant species have been identified in the state, only a handful are considered vineyard pests (all photos by V. Boyd.)
Haviland and Cooper, on the other hand, looked at polyacrylamides. They are the same materials used in ultra-absorbent baby diapers as well as to increase soil water-holding capacity in container-grown plants. The products are also available in macrobins.
When used to prolong irrigation in plants, polyacrylamides are considered soil amendments and don’t need CDPR registration, Haviland said. When used as part of ant baits, they are considered pesticide carriers and therefore classified as adjuvants. In California, adjuvants also must undergo CDPR registration, he said.
Haviland said they are working with the citrus and the wine and table grape industries to request a Section 18 emergency use exemption for the gels.
Off-the-shelf polyacrylamides come in granular or crystal form and change into gels as they absorb water. In the case of the ant bait, the researchers mixed four parts water and one part granulated sugar to which they added an “ultra-low” amount of insecticide. Once they created a solution, they added polyacrylamide and allowed the mixture to sit for at least two hours in a properly labeled, covered container to rehydrate.
Water quality, such as salinity and hardness, may affect gel formation, said Nathan Mercer with CDFA. As a UC Berkeley Department of Environmental Science, Policy and Management post-doctoral researcher, he was involved in the Lodi trials in 2022 and 2023. Mercer recommended users first mix a jar of the gel to test water quality.
UCCE IPM Advisor David Haviland demonstrated how to apply gel ant bait during a recent field day hosted by the Lodi Winegrape Commission.
Lodi Trials Targeted Pavement Ants
In the Lodi trials, researchers looked at four insecticides, all used at a fraction of the labeled rate: boric acid, thiamethoxam, abamectin and pyriproxyfen. They applied the gel bait at either 5 gallons per acre or 10 gallons per acre using a hand spreader the first year. During the second year, they used a Herd spreader hitched to an ATV.
Calibration and maintaining an even speed are important to ensure users aren’t over- or under-applying the gel bait, Haviland said.
Users should try to apply the gel bait early in the morning, under foggy or cloudy conditions, and aim for the shade under canopies to prolong moisture as much as possible, Haviland said. Under optimum conditions, the bait will remain attractive for up to two days before it dries out.
Conversely, he advised against applying it under the blazing sun in the middle of the day when the gel may dry out in less than two hours.
The researchers also compared plots that received only one treatment to those that had received two applications.
“All the insecticides worked pretty well to some degree at both 5 gallons and 10 gallons per acre,” Mercer said. “All did a good job of keeping down the pavement ants, especially Platinum (thiamethoxam). Platinum did a really good job after just one application.”
In the plots that received two thiamethoxam treatments, the researchers saw a 38% reduction in vine mealybug numbers in grape clusters.
North Coast Trials Looked Good, Too
Cooper looked at polyacrylamide gel bait laced with boric acid at 0.05% or thiamethoxam at 0.0006% active ingredient. She also found both worked well.
In vineyards treated with two applications of thiamethoxam-laced bait, ant foraging was eliminated for five to six weeks, and activity was further suppressed for up to six months. Ant activity was based on sugar water-laced cotton ball surveys.
In vineyards treated with two applications of boric acid-laced bait, ant foraging was eliminated for four to six weeks, and activity was further suppressed for up to five months.
Cooper said the overall ant population declines suggest the effects of bait applications over multiple seasons are cumulative.
Start Early
For the ant baits to be successful, Haviland provided a few caveats. They are only effective in the spring before pests begin to exude honeydew.
“Once you get honeydew, the ants are smart; they know the difference between sugar water from Walmart and filet mignon,” he said.
In addition, the ants must be foraging, which typically starts in mid-March in the interior and southern regions of California, whereas in the North Coast region it may be later. Survey ants with sugar-soaked cotton balls to determine site-specific differences in timing.
As part of a vine mealybug program in interior and southern regions of California, Haviland recommended a gel ant bait application about April 1, followed by a second about four weeks later if needed based on ant surveys.
The costliest ingredient in the gel bait is granulated sugar, and Haviland said he plans to conduct trials this season to see if cutting the amount in half to an 8:1 water-to-sugar ratio will be as attractive to ants as using a 4:1 rate.
Growing the Grape and Wine Industry One Reader at a Time (photo by Brennan Spark.)
Readership studies play a crucial role in the agricultural sector, particularly for specialized industries like grape wine. These studies help publications like Grape & Wine understand their audience better, enabling them to tailor content to the specific needs and interests of grape growers, winemakers, consultants and other industry professionals. This targeted approach is vital for fostering a thriving agriculture industry.
Firstly, readership studies provide valuable insights into the preferences and information needs of industry professionals. By analyzing data on what topics are most read and appreciated, Grape & Wine can focus on producing relevant and engaging content. This could range from the latest grape growing strategies to wine market trends and winery profiles. Such information not only keeps readers informed but also helps them make better decisions for their operation, ultimately leading to improved crop yields, quality and business success.
In a recent Baxter Research Center media study in Grape & Wine, 58 grape growers, winemakers, consultants and other industry professionals shared overwhelmingly positive feedback.
“Good cutting-edge content,” said one respondent.
“My work is closely related to the vineyard industry; topics and articles in this magazine have been very timely and spot-on,” said another respondent.
“Provides me relevant and current information that supports my interests and profession as a wine educator and enologist,” another said.
Secondly, readership feedback is essential for fostering a sense of community within the industry. When grape growers and winemakers actively participate in readership studies, they contribute to the creation of a publication that truly represents their collective voice and concerns. This collaboration can lead to the sharing of innovative ideas, experiences and best practices, further strengthening the industry as a whole.
Moreover, providing feedback to Grape & Wine can help address specific challenges faced by the industry. For instance, concerns about grape growing strategies, water, wine market trends or consumer preferences can be highlighted and addressed through in-depth articles and expert opinions. By understanding these issues, the magazine can play a pivotal role in advocating for the industry and influencing policy decisions that benefit the grape and wine industry.
In conclusion, readership studies are indispensable for a publication like Grape & Wine. They enable the publication to produce content that is not only informative and engaging but also directly relevant to the needs of the industry. Grape growers and winemakers should actively participate in these studies to ensure their voices are heard and the publication continues to be a valuable resource for the industry’s growth and success.
New “biological in-pipe” wastewater treatment system at One Hope in Napa has been running for nearly three years. (all photos courtesy One Hope Winery.)
At Paso Robles’ Eberle Winery, a large reed bed in a constructed wetland chomps on winery wastewater bacteria.
In the Sierra Foothills in Placer County, Wise Villa Winery’s BioFiltro worm bin, the size of a shipping container, is home to millions of worms consuming wood chips and wastewater. Winery staff can remotely monitor how much water the winery is pumping through the system as well as monitor the water’s pH on their cell phones.
Wine industry giant O’Neill uses the same (scalable) technology at its mammoth production site in the Central Valley, growing alfalfa with the recycled irrigation water the system generates and feeding the crop to its herd of cattle.
On 8th Street in Sonoma, Scribe’s new winery uses a Cloacina, a membrane biological reactor (MBR), to clean the wastewater from its new facility, sharing maintenance expertise with a neighboring winery and sending the clean water into Sonoma’s sewer system.
All these are solutions prompted by the need to comply with California’s existing and new discharge requirements for winery process water, which began requiring wineries to register with the state water board by Jan. 24, 2024.
To date, state data show a significant number of wineries have not submitted required plans.
While land-applied applications are the least costly method for discharging wastewater, some wineries prefer to use worm bin systems offered by BioFiltro, which recycle the process water. Minimum price is $150,000. Some opt for tank and haul if a municipal wastewater system will accept their rate and the trucking costs are not too high. Ponds and managed wetlands are other relatively lower-cost solutions. MBRs can cost $500,000 and require significant ongoing maintenance.
Revolutionary, Low-Cost Winery Wastewater Treatment System in Use
For One Hope in Napa, innovative wastewater engineering veteran Chris Ott, CEO of Hydros Agritech, designed a new in-pipe biological treatment system. Ott has been working on wastewater treatment for decades and formerly designed parts of one wine giant’s 3-million-gallon-per-day wastewater system (which generates a significant amount of energy for the company).
Ott found an interested client in Frank Kloberdanz, father of pioneering One Hope’s CEO and co-founder Jake Kloberdanz, who had just retired as construction manager at Stanford Environmental Health and Safety. The two met through the local animal rescue group.
While the regular winery wastewater order prohibits wineries from combining both human and winery wastewater streams, another type of permit, a general order for a small domestic treatment plant, allows it. The Hydros Agrotech system at One Hope is permitted as a small domestic treatment plant.
The new system routes wastewater through an extensive yet compact piping system with a proprietary mix of cleansing bacteria. The winery was able “to recapture about an acre of land,” said Kloberdanz.
That was significant for the property, which includes both the winery and adjacent residential units.
In-pipe bacteria systems are already in use in other countries, but the One Hope model is significantly redesigned to comply with California’s wastewater standards.
Said Ott, “All the wastewater from the winery, along with the domestic waste from the winery and all the wastewater from the house and a cottage, gets combined underground. And then there is a buffer tank and an equalization tank. The system takes all the water combined and kind of equalizes what’s in the water. Then we have sensors in there that activate the treatment system when there’s water to treat.”
“There’s bacteria that grows inside of the pipe, and that bacteria is what cleans the water,” Ott said.
The system has one large metal cistern for recycled water storage. The processing takes place in a small shed behind the winery.
“It’s low technology. It’s actually pleasing,” said Kloberdanz. “And we get a system that eliminates the need for all of the leach fields.”
The system’s water, when cleaned, ends up in the 15,000-gallon tank and gets used for landscape irrigation. “So instead of using well water for landscape irrigation, they’re using recycled water, preventing the need to pump from a well,” said Ott.
Ott is still tinkering to get even better results. “I can get better efficiencies out of a redesign very soon,” he said. “But part of the reason for this beta project basically is that we wanted to have a number of years of operation. So now I can say it’s been running for almost three years.”
Pricing is not yet available, but Ott said it would be a low-cost system. One Hope features the system on its regular wine tasting tours. Producers can also schedule a tour specifically to see the Agritech-powered wastewater facility. Contact information is available at www.hydrosagritech.com.
Other Vendor Innovations
Some wastewater technology companies are offering “wastewater processing as a service,” in which the company will bring equipment, including an MBR, for instance, on site for a day and return 90% of process water to the winery to re-use. Hydros Agritech’s solution may also be available as a service in the future.
Growers continue to add grape ground and buyers continue to acquire grape ground despite formidable challenges (photo by JW Lemons.)
California grows grapes in 49 of its 58 counties. Growers and wineries currently face challenges on multiple fronts: labor shortages and costs, post-COVID-19 materials costs and logistics issues, consolidation at the distributor level and higher interest rates. In California, we can always add to those daunting burdens the ever-present encumbrances of climate extremes and water availability.
And yet, despite these formidable challenges, growers continue to add grape ground, and buyers continue to acquire grape ground. This review of recent sales is certainly not all-inclusive but intended to give a large-picture snapshot of some of the year’s more significant sales. Feel free to reach out if you spot a glaring omission or error.
Please note: Some transactions that appear to have skewed per acre prices may include other significant assets such as wineries, caves, equipment, existing inventory and contracts, etc.
Amador County
Rombauer to E.J. Gallo (~40 acres, $3,500,000; September 2023)
Wilderotter Vineyard to Amadoras del Vino, LLC (~40 acres, $6,800,000; June 2023)
Kern County
79.3 acres Cab Sauv at $25,000/acre; November 2023
80 acres French Colombard at $25,000/acre; November 2023
167 acres Pinot Grigio, French Colombard, Syrah, Chardonnay at $24,400/acre; November 2023
Madera County
78.5 acres Black Muscat, Orange Muscat, Chardonnay at $37,600/acre; April 2023
Mendocino County
Abel Vineyard to Wentworth Vineyards (~21 acres, $1,400,000; August 2023)
Haiku Vineyard to Prudential Ag Investments (201 acres, $12,000,000; June 2023)
Savoy Vineyard to Donum Estate (52 acres, $5,244,000; May 2023)
Monterey County
Monterey County boasts the single largest vineyard in California. San Bernabe Vineyard contains 5,000 acres, owned by Delicato.
Napa County
Ahmann Vineyard to Cakebread Cellars (209 acres, price undisclosed; Spring 2023)
Alfred Frediani Ranch to Eisele Vineyard (27.65 acres (21 planted), $18,500,000; February 2023) (Pickett Road Property)
Altimeter Vineyard to Shafer Vineyards (~20 (10 planted) acres, $5,555,000; June 2023)
Azalea Springs Way to Memento Mori (~17 acres, $10,310,000; November 2022)
LMR Wine Estates, Rutherford to St. Supery (48 acres, $14,800,000; August 2023)
Montagna to Brion Wise (128 acres, $50,000,000; August 2023) (Now “BRION Estate”)
*Hess Collection to MVSR (Sequoia Grove) (104 acres (18 planted), $3,667,500; June 2023)
*Hess Collection to Kopf Vineyards (unknown acres, $6,213,000; October 2023)
*Hess Collection to Villa Amorosa (<200 acres, $15,250,000; November 2023)
*Multiple correction deeds and lot line adjustments make precise acreage transferred unclear.
Spring Mountain Vineyard to MGG Investment Group (845 acres, $42,000,000; July 2023) (purchased out of bankruptcy)
Stag’s Leap to Marchesi Antinori (~300 acres)
Vine Cliff Winery to SCW Fund Corp (~100 acres, $42,100,000 for land alone, not including other business assets)
Vintage Wine Estates to Wonderful (42 acres, $11,000,000; March 2023) (Tenma Vineyard)
San Benito County
Treasury Wine Estates to The Wine Group (642 acres, $15,000,000; November 2022)
Combined with their 2017 purchase of >1,300 acres, The Wine Group now owns over 2,000 acres in the Paicines AVA
Judd Vineyard to Kylix Vineyards (640 acres, $1,500,000; February 2023)
San Joaquin County
Largest winegrape-growing county in California and 5th-largest winery in the U.S. in Manteca, owned by Delicato
Hidden Oaks Vineyard to Farmtogether (~103 acres, $3,200,000; June 2023)
Santa Barbara County
Bridlewood Estate Winery to Santa Ynez Ranch, LLC (81 acres, $5,530,500; January 2023)
Buttonwood Farm to Buttonwood Ranch, LP (107 acres, $6,750,000; July 2023)
Santa Clara County
San Felipe Vineyard to Pura Revocable Trust (187 acres, $3,380,000; February 2023)
San Ysidro Vineyard to Valuable Land Investment, LLC (~312 acres, $7,800,000; July 2023) (purchased by local buying group)
Sonoma County
Dr. Galante Estate Vineyard to DuMol (~29 acres, $4,525,000; Summer 2023)
Sonoma-Cutrer to Duckhorn (~1121 acres, $400,000,000; November 2023)(Expected to close 3Q 2024)
Soracco Family Vineyards to C and F Company (~81 acres, $8,100,000; September 2023)
Syar Vineyards to Klein Foods (~500 acres, $37,500,000; June 2023)
Undisclosed to Rombauer Vineyards (54 acres, price undisclosed; January 2023)
San Luis Obispo County
And last but the opposite of least, the mind-bending MOAB of 2023 vineyard sales:
Daou sold to Treasury Wine Estates (~400 acres, >$900,000,000; Agreement to Acquire) (Potential for additional $100,000,000 added to purchase price, depending on achieving specified goalsl; not yet closed).
Upcoming in 2024
The Duckhorn Portfolio, Inc. entered into an agreement to acquire Sonoma-Cutrer Vineyards including 1,121 acres for an estimated $400,000,000. The acreage is in the Russian River Valley and Sonoma Coast appellations. Anticipated closing is in late 2024.
Every effort is made to provide accurate information, including verification with publicly available county documentation; however, accuracy is not warranted by author or publisher.
Although monoculture farming is the right move for winegrapes, limiting biodiversity in an area year after year can take a toll on the natural habitat. Cultivating diverse habitats is important (photo by Michelle Cordova.)
Anyone who travels to California’s Central Coast knows it is a hot spot for agriculture. A visit quickly reveals the sheer diversity of natural ecosystems, from beaches and coastal ranges to rolling hills and rangeland.
Along with the ecological diversity comes a range of development and activity, including dedicated wildlife preserves and numerous agricultural operations.
Thanks to the Pacific Ocean’s influences, one of the Central Coast’s top commodities is winegrapes. Over the past couple of centuries, its valleys and rolling hills have become home to dozens of world-renowned vineyards and wineries.
Winegrape vineyards ranging from a few to several hundred acres can be found across the region and are typically grown as monoculture crops.
In monoculture farming, the same crop grows on the same land yearly. Since vines stay in the ground producing grapes for decades, monoculture farming makes sense for the plant and the grower.
Cultivating Diverse Habitats
Although monoculture farming is the right move for winegrapes, limiting biodiversity in an area year after year can take a toll on the natural habitat. Biodiversity suffers when soils are disrupted and plant life is limited.
Soil contains a lot of life, including beneficial bacteria, fungi and much more. These lifeforms offer ecological benefits like nutrient conversion and transportation, and plant growth stimulation and decomposition.
Working hand-in-hand with microbial life below the soil, the native plant life that grows from it plays a major role in the carbon cycle. Native plant species are especially adept at sequestering carbon, as they thrive in the area’s climate and conditions and don’t depend on external interventions to remain resilient.
But by preserving and regenerating natural habitat alongside cultivating their crops, vineyard growers can reap the benefits of biologically rich soils and help regulate the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere.
Agricultural systems become more resilient and functional under changing climate conditions when they include a variety of plant, animal, fungal and bacterial life.
The regenerative nature of the practices sustainable vineyard stewards use comes from the founding principle that farming practices influence a system much larger than just the vineyard, more commonly referred to as the whole farm system, which includes the vines, the rows between the vines, the wildlife habitat, adjacent oak and riparian areas, surrounding wetlands, receiving waters and other non-cropped areas.
Balancing Mechanization and Hands-On Work
Sustainable vineyard stewards like Maverick Farming in Santa Maria, Calif. take a big-picture approach to their management practices. They manage several commercial vineyards on California’s Central Coast, so many of their vineyard sites have rows of vines planted up and along steep hills.
Managing sloped crops poses navigational challenges, which is why many vineyard owners turn to experienced management companies who have the tools and experience necessary to handle these challenges.
Maverick uses tractors and heavy equipment to perform generalized tasks like discing and leveling soil. When these tasks are mechanized, workers can dedicate their time and expertise to tasks that require more skill and precision.
Maverick Farming in Santa Maria, Calif. uses tractors and heavy equipment to perform generalized tasks like discing and leveling soil. When these tasks are mechanized, workers can dedicate their time and expertise to tasks that require more skill and precision (photo by Michelle Cordova.)
On top of increasing efficiency, mechanization makes for a safer work environment. People specializing in hands-on vineyard care need to walk up and down each and every row of vines. Gopher mounds pose a safety risk to people as they move through the vineyard rows, which is why Maverick brings in equipment to level them out.
But there are downsides to driving tractors through the rows of vines.
Heavy equipment compacts the soil. When soil becomes too tight for water to soak, roots aren’t optimally hydrated.
Additionally, when water can’t permeate the soil, it is more prone to running off the property, posing a threat to water quality.
Finally, agitating soil with tilling practices hinders its biological activity. When the habitats of soil microbes and beneficial insects are disrupted, the biological benefits they offer are weakened.
Caring for The Whole Farm System
Knowing that tilling the hilled rows is both necessary and risky, Maverick changed their tilling practices. By doing so, they have found a balance that preserves worker safety and enhances biodiversity in their vineyards.
The vineyard blocks that are sloped and prone to higher water runoff are now on a five-year discing rotation cycle. This allows the vineyard floor to be made level and safe for workers, and it gives time for native grasses to establish themselves as cover crops.
Chad Foster has been with Maverick since 2015. As operations manager for the company’s Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo county vineyards, he has seen the progression of these reduced tillage blocks as they progress through the five-year cycle.
Operations like Maverick that implement SIP Certified® sustainable practices have an easier time managing a property that experiences reduced erosion and greater water holding capacity, improved carbon and nitrogen cycling, and a plethora of biological activity (photo by Michelle Cordova.)
“The biggest thing we’ve noticed from an everyday standpoint,” Foster said, “is improved water infiltration. Now that the cover crops are nice and established, their deep roots help guide the water further into the soil.”
Plant life offers benefits to both water infiltration and quality. As well as guiding water deep into the soil, roots act as a filter that holds sediment in place. This keeps water on the property rather than allowing it to run off and contribute to water pollution.
Moreover, when leaves and stems above ground catch falling rain, they reduce the impact of water drops, thus reducing erosion potential. Soil erosion compromises soil quality and fertility, potentially reducing the quality of grapes and threatening surrounding areas.
But that is not all. Cover crops like the native grasses that flourish in the sloped blocks of Maverick’s properties also serve as homes, food and mating and hunting grounds for insect life.
Foster noticed an uptick in lacewing and ladybugs where the native grasses flourish. These beneficial insects are natural predators to the mites, mealybugs and aphids which are common vineyard pests. Encouraging functional predator/prey relationships enables a vineyard steward to reduce chemical inputs that would otherwise be needed to manage insect pests.
While discing and leveling are still periodically necessary due to vertebrate pests and tractor compaction, Foster said the new rotation cycle that allows the native grasses to thrive has benefited their soils, vines and insect activity.
Operations like Maverick that implement SIP Certified® sustainable practices have an easier time managing a property that experiences reduced erosion and greater water holding capacity, improved carbon and nitrogen cycling, and a plethora of biological activity.
On top of contributing to healthier production sites, farming in a way that cares for the whole farm system leads to a healthier ecosystem that can support many forms of life through the commodities it produces and the regenerative habitat it provides.
While cultivating biologically diverse habitats is a remarkable component in a sustainable winegrowing operation, sustainability doesn’t stop in the vineyard. In the next Sustainable Story, learn about how an estate vineyard and winery in Paso Robles, Calif. involves their entire team in their sustainable business practices.
Berry color develops as anthocyanins accumulate in berry skin. High temperatures slow down anthocyanin synthesis and accelerate its degradation (all photos by T. Tian.)
Red table grape appeal lies in uniform berry color and a crunchy, crisp texture.
Managing the crop to achieve color and firmness at harvest and preserve those qualities in cold storage requires recognition of the many factors that can affect berry color and firmness.
Possible solutions for pre-harvest fruit softening in red table grape varieties include early harvest or slowing down the decrease in berry firmness during fruit ripening to minimize the risk of pre-harvest fruit softening.
At the Southern San Joaquin Valley Grape Symposium, UCCE Kern County Viticulture Advisor Tian Tian said variety difference, harvest timing, environmental conditions, vineyard management and weather are all factors that can influence berry firmness. Trials conducted to date have been inconclusive in finding which products work best for firmness, color and brix.
Tian said in a variety named Krissy, berries begin losing firmness at the onset of veraison and their firmness decreases during ripening. This softening is due to degradation of pectin and cellulose in the cell wall, reduction in intercellular adhesion and loss of turgor pressure with increased concentrations of fructose and glucose in the berry apoplast, the extracellular space outside of plant cell membranes.
Berry color develops as anthocyanins accumulate in berry skin. High temperatures slow down anthocyanin synthesis and accelerate its degradation.
Role of Nutrition and Other Practices
Tian said foliar-applied nutrition plays a part in berry quality, strengthening cell walls and reducing heat damage. Even a small portion of calcium and magnesium in a foliar spray is allocated to the fruit, and increase in calcium in the fruit may lead to pectin degradation and strengthen the cell-to-cell adhesion, improving fruit firmness. A foliar orthosilicic acid spray may increase cross-link between polysaccharides and reinforce cellulose fibers. It may also reduce cell wall destabilization under high temperature.
Crop load adjustment is a management practice that allow vine resources to go to remaining clusters after thinning. Leafing at veraison is another management practice that can promote better light penetration in the canopy. While light is essential to trigger anthocyanin accumulation in some varieties, it can also lead to sunburn. Tian said a 2022 study of leaf removal did not show any improvement in berry coloration.
Red table grape appeal lies in uniform berry color and a crunchy, crisp texture.
Tian’s data presented at the symposium showed findings by the first harvest. She was not able to complete the trial due to the summer storm. She also noted that the experimental block had a lower-than-normal crop load. The trial will continue this year.
Possible solutions for pre-harvest fruit softening in red table grape varieties include early harvest or slowing down the decrease in berry firmness during fruit ripening to minimize the risk of pre-harvest fruit softening.
Ashraf El-Kereamy, UC Riverside and UC Lindcove, said the use of ethylene-releasing compounds to improve red color in grapes needs more attention due to increased global temperatures.
Understanding Growth Cycle
Understanding grape berry growth cycle can help with promoting color. The first stage is the formation cycle where berry formation starts with cell division in pericarp tissue and flower starts to transform into fruit. Water transfers into berries via xylem and phloem to enlarge berries. The berry is green and hard. The second stage is the ripening cycle. Sugar accumulations, phenolics and flavor compounds begin. Color changes from green.
Formation of each compound is temperature- and light-dependent, but the ripeness of the berry is determined by sugar level and color.
In research funded by the California Table Grape Commission, published in Frontiers in Plant Science, El-Kereamy notes red color results from anthocyanin pigment. The anthocyanin pathway is regulated by light and antioxidant activity, among other factors. Even with cultural practices, he said it is still challenging to produce table grapes with high coloration.
Five plant hormones play a role in grape berry development: auxin, cytokinin and gibberellins, which are active in early development, and abscisic acid and ethylene, which are active at onset of ripening. These ripening hormones need to be kept in balance, El-Kereamy said, and work together to produce color.
In El-Kereamy’s research, treatments included ethephon (ET) at 600 mg/L, silicon at 175 mg/L and a commercial light-reflective white ground cover (RGC) alone and in various combinations. Treatments were conducted either with or without a combination of cluster-zone leaf removal at veraison (LR) on Flame seedless grapes.
The treatment was carried out at veraison when 30% of berries in the clusters were turned red, and maximum red grape coloration was observed when combining ethephon with the ground white plastic cover and Si due to enhancing both anthocyanin biosynthesis and antioxidant enzyme activity. Using the light-reflective white ground cover did not restrict the water supply as the water was freely reaching the vine rootzone. LR at this stage increased berry temperature that might reduce the effectiveness of ethephon on berry coloration.
Data collected in 2019 and 2020 in El-Kereamy research showed the best treatment to improve berry coloration was using ET in combination with Si and RGC, applied at veraison. Adding LR to this combination did not improve berry color any further but rather caused a reduction in color development. Use of reflective ground cover without LR at veraison significantly increased the quantity of reflected blue and red lights as well as the red to far-red ratio around clusters.
Manipulating the light spectrum and application of Si in combination with the ethephon treatment could be used in table grape vineyards to improve the ethylene-induced anthocyanin accumulation and coloration, he noted in his research.
The control and LR had the least effect on color. LR, El-Kereamy noted,can have harmful effects in high-heat situations and may reduce the effectiveness of ethephon on berry coloration.
Take-away message is excessive stress can impair anthocyanin biosynthesis and accumulation in the berries. Other hormones can positively or negatively affect the vine’s response to ethylene. Using appropriate cultural practices to allow ethylene to properly release will prevent triggering other promoter hormones.
El-Kereamy’s study showed the importance of light quantity and quality on ethylene-induced anthocyanin accumulation in red table grapes and its coloration. Manipulating light conditions surrounding the vines using RGC in addition Si enhanced the effect of ethephon.
