Like most industries, the wine industry has been affected by environmental issues. Recently wineries have been forced to replace lead bottle capsules (the cap which covers the cork) with plastic or tin alternatives, for health and landfill waste reasons.
The most important impact that the production of wine has had on the environment however, is in the millions of acres of vineyard worldwide. Many of the lessons learned from the winegrape industry in the last decade are encouraging for the agriculture industry as a whole.
In the 1950's and 60's, agricultural advances promised to make grape growing more profitable by eliminating the effects of disease and pests, and increasing yield, quality, and lowering costs. Today it is evident that these objectives can best be achieved not through the dependence on pesticides, herbicides, fungicides, fertilizers and the like, but by employing more traditional, environmentally friendly techniques.
The old ideal vineyard was bare as a billiard table, kept free of weeds by the use of herbicides which after successive applications, essentially sterilized the soil and kept it weed-free, except for minor touch-ups. This is not ideal though, in terms of creating a healthy environment for the vines. Weeds or grass aerate the soil and allow water to be easily stored by the soil and allow rain to reach the roots. They prevent soil compaction by tractors and soil erosion on hillside vineyards. They also provide alternative food sources for vertebrate pests and form a natural home for indigenous insect predators. As well, a cover crop helps limit vigor of vines, which in New World vineyards is probably the biggest single cause of quality loss. If, rather than allowing weeds to flourish, the grower grows a cover crop of barley, mustard, or clover the growth can be plowed under for use as a natural, mild, fertilizer. Maintaining soil health, as opposed to neglecting it and then applying harsh vigor-inducing fertilizers, is a simple, inexpensive and sensible solution.
The old European adage, "where plows can go no vines should grow" also illustrates some of the problems New World growers have created for themselves. In the past, New World growers typically chose overly fertile sites for vines; this led to lower-quality grapes, and demanded far more intervention to be kept weed-free. Rocky, or poor soils are often ideal for deep rooted vines, but inhospitable to weeds.
Similarly, mildew, bunch rot and other fungal diseases are best treated with preventive measures, such as pulling excess foliage, limiting the number of clusters and hedging shoots, so that the grapes are well exposed to sun and air circulation. With a good preventive regimen, elemental sulphur need only be sprayed to keep the vines disease free. Sulphur is cheap and considered totally acceptable in organic growing. Unlike sulphur, expensive chemicals like sterile inhibitors, which are anti-fungal agents, become less effective after successive applications, because the diseases become resistant to the particular chemical. Like antibiotics, they must be used with restraint, or disease problems can be compounded. Just as in our health care system, growers have become hooked on chemicals which provide expensive, quick fixes, rather than long-term solutions.
Insect pests are far less troublesome in a balanced, well maintained vineyard, and can be usually controlled inexpensively during outbreaks with the release of ladybugs, spiders and other predators, rather than the wholesale killing of vineyard insects with pesticides - that kill predators as well as pests.
In California there has been a real swing back to traditional organic grape-growing. What is encouraging about this development is that it has been initiated not so much out of the marketing possibilities of cashing in on the 90's fears and fixations with diet, or out of Political Correctness, but because it makes good, long-term financial sense. Preston Vineyards in Sonoma County and Fetzer in Mendocino County are leading the way. Their philosophy is that long-term care of their vines and soil will produce better wines and cost less to maintain.
The promise of 50's and 60's agro-technology cheap, bountiful, disease-free winegrape growing, was a false promise, partly due to unforeseen economic shifts like the rising cost of petrochemicals. The promise was also false at the core, because it is only through limiting vine vigor and yield that quality winegrapes and great wines are produced. The best way to achieve these ends is to keep the vines balanced and healthy, through good site-selection and sound, traditional vineyard practices - that just happen to be environmentally sound as well.
- Tom Davis, Vancouver, Canada
