It’s no secret that growing grapes within the reach of the Pacific Ocean — whether you’re in the Santa Cruz Mountains, on the Sonoma Coast or up north in Oregon — can make one go gray early. But, say winemakers who’ve embraced this challenge, its well worth the travails. Here are some tips to ease the pain. They won’t work for everyone, but if you’re not afraid of a little heat, read on.
Heat and yeast
James Schultze, proprietor/winemaker of Windy Oaks Estate in the Corralitos area of California’s Santa Cruz Mountains, faces constant fog pressure. His secret weapon is “Le Chaud,” his French nickname for “The Heat,” a machine he began using in 2016 throughout his 18-acre vineyard for mealybug control. Made by Agrothermal, it’s basically a giant heat-blowing fan towed behind a tractor (the hot air kills mealybugs on contact).
“I have one really steep block where I am too nervous to use the machine, and it’s the only place we found mealybugs,” says Schultze. It’s also miraculous at eradicating mildew. He has reduced his number of sprays to four per season. “I use [Le Chaud] on the whole vineyard to control botrytis and mealybugs and I have zero botrytis.”
An additional benefit, he says, is wine flavour: “I did a control block and a heat-treated block and had them tested by ETS. The heat-treated grapes had 50% higher phenolics — mind blowing! That explains why the wine tastes the way it does.”
The machine is a lifesaver during pre-harvest rain events. “I can make almost three passes through the vineyard if the tanks start out full. Even at current high prices for propane of about $4.50 per gallon, that’s a bit less than $125 per pass. A single spray is typically two to three times that, sometimes more.”
Another challenge in coastal vineyards, who hasn’t struggled with VA? Schultze says he learned a trick while attending a seminar in Burgundy. Use Zymaflore AlphaTD, non-Saccharomyces yeast that’s intolerant of alcohol, to get rid of spoilage bacteria. “When picking up bins from other vineyards or bringing in my own, I sprinkle the freeze-dried yeast over the grapes. It’s activated by humidity and dies once fermentation starts.” You can still do cold soaks and not worry about VA, he says —and you can still do native yeast fermentation. “There is no downside here!” While it costs twice as much as saccharomyces yeast, you use very little.
Another trick he learned from attending seminars in France was to eliminate hedging in favor of vine-top spreaders that are used at premier estates in Burgundy. “Madame Lalou Bize-Leroy felt that cutting growing shoots creates a negative hormonal response that impacts flavors and reduces complexity.”
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