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| Vintage technology | ||||
| Precision instruments transform California viticulture | ||||
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Sunday, March 15, 1998 |
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By
Paul Franson
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| Paul Skinner
slogs through sticky, ankle-deep mud in a dormant vineyard in Napa Valley with a strange
pod emerging from the pack on his back. While walking, he makes entries on his hand-held computer. He looks more like a character in a vintage science fiction movie than one of the world's leading experts on using technology to improve the planting and growing of wine grapes. Skinner is founder of Terra Spase, a Napa company that's helping transform one of mankind's oldest endeavors from an art to a science. Skinner's specialty is plotting and integrating the many conditions that determine which grapes should be planted where and how the vines should be treated once they're in the ground. To many people, viticulturists' recent love affair with technology might seem as strange as Skinners instruments. After all, to those who simply enjoy viewing the acres of vineyards in Napa and Sonoma counties, viticulture might seem the most bucolic, low tech and peaceful of pursuits. In truth, however, grapevines are very finicky. They need all the technological help they can get to overcome the many pests and diseases that lie in the path of becoming a $90 bottle of Opus-One - or even a cheap jug of red. Among the pests are the root louse phylloxera, microscopic nematode worms and a host of viruses. Then there's powdery mildew and bunch rot, not to mention the stress and strain of California's alternating floods and droughts. These pests are a serious threat to California's wine industry, which produced $1.6 billion in grapes and &5.7 billion in wine last year, according to Jon A. Frederickson of Gomberg, Fredrickson & Associates, a wine industry consulting firm in San Francisco. To counter these problems, grape growers are using advanced |
technology -
including geographic imaging systems, weather data and DNA testing - and producing better
wine in the process. Aerial photography and global positioning satellite technology first developed for aerospace and defense as well as geographic imaging systems are used to map subtle differences in soil and growth patterns. Automated weather stations and ground-water monitors use sophisticated neutron probes and wireless networks to tell growers when grapes need to be sprayed or irrigated. DNA analysis is used to identify questionable vines and grow new plants from tiny samples. Fighting phylloxera, which in the past has come close to destroying the wine industry in France and California, has become a focal point of viticulture technology. The tiny root louse is native to the southeast U.S. Native American grapes are resistant to it, but European wine grapes (vitis vinifera) are one of its favorite foods. California growers now can plant resistant native grape vines, then graft European wine grape vines to them. At the University of California at Davis, researchers create alter native rootstocks, then test them with techniques they've developed that reduce generations of growth to just months. Graduate students at Davis recently used DNA testing, for example, to discover that much of the tasty Chilean Merlot on the market is actually Carmenere, a forgotten grape that originated in France's Bordeaux region. Once California vintners decide to plant a particular strain of grape, many turn to technology to help find suitable land to grow the vines. The soil of a proposed vineyard is analyzed by taking deep samples, then plotting the data on sophisticated maps. Terra Spase's Skinner developed a program he calls "Terroir" that integrates these soils samples with GPS, aerial |
imagery and
weather data. He uses GPS receivers to plot vines and geological features to within feet
of where they would go. Portable computers help him to collect data in the field. Skinner estimates that this analysis costs growers about $100 per acre. This is on top of an average investment of about $25,000 to $40,000 per acre for prime Napa County land and $15,000 to $25,000 an acre for planting. Skinner's models help growers decide which root stocks and varieties to plant and make more precise use of fertilizers. Some roots can't take "wet feet" near creeks, but other deep roots are suitable for rocky hillsides. Sauvignon Blanc is one of those very productive stocks, said David Heil, viticulturist at Sterling Vineyards in Calistoga. Therefore, the winery uses less-productive rootstock to tame the vine's excessive vegetative qualities. Likewise, aerial fly-overs with special digital cameras that look at different color spectra allow growers to judge the health of their plants. Reduced leaf growth, for example, can be an early warning of the spread of phylloxera. Throughout Napa Valley, growers get updated information from 55 automated weather stations owned by the individual vineyards and managed by Terra Spase for advance warning on such conditions as evening fog, which encourages growth of powdery mildew. Knowing that possibility, they can apply sulfur to prevent the problem. "Until three years ago, I depended mostly on my experience, but now I trust technology more," says Daniel Bosch, vineyard technical manager at Mondavi. He adds that the tools available to growers are precise, but many still don't understand the advantages. In the end, however, the result of the technology is tested in an ancient way. "The proof is in the wine," says Bosch. "We do a lot of tasting by blocks to correlate the numbers with the final results." |
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