Sunday, 12 February, 2023
The Drinks Business, Sarah Neish
A trial at a Welsh winery has yielded such success that producers in New Zealand are considering following in its footsteps.
In what could prove to be a major ‘green’ breakthrough, Gwinllan Conwy Vineyard in Llangwstenin, Wales, began laying sheep fleeces on the ground in and around two rows of vines in October 2021. This week, it took delivery of more than 3,000 sheep fleeces to move forward with the sustainable method on a permanent basis, based on the trial’s overwhelmingly positive results.
The brainwave came from local Llangwstenin farmer Gareth Wyn Jones and his son Sion Jones after visiting the vineyard in 2021 and noticing that glyphosate weedkiller (likely to be banned in the UK soon) was being used around vines.
Winery co-owner Colin Bennett was looking for an alternative method to help keep weeds at bay, with a view to eventually converting the vineyard over to organic viticulture.
“I’d been putting fleeces around apple trees and on my veg patch,” Wyn Jones said. “The idea was to retain moisture and feed nutrients into the soil. Lanolin in the fleece also deters slugs and snails. Last year, I used them around strawberry plants and the results were absolutely fantastic.”
To read the full article, click HERE