WINE & TECH

In the Vineyard

Some growers and vineyard managers are doubling down on high-tech viticultural solutions to save water, cut labor costs, maximize efficiency and increase sustainability. —Matt Kettmann

Machine Labor

Once used primarily by commodity-scale growers, machine harvesters and pruners are now an option for boutique-sized vintners as well. The machines first became popular because of their speed but have been increasingly sought after as they’ve become more sensitive and customizable. They’ve also become more and more necessary, given a labor pool that’s drying up due to immigration policies and competition from other crops like legally grown cannabis. French manufacturer Pellenc is the industry leader and now sells more than twice as many harvesters per year as it did a decade ago.

“Labor-saving technology is increasingly important,” says Jeff Newton, founder of Coastal Vineyard Care Associates in Santa Barbara County. “Though it’s been around since the 1960s, machine-harvest technology has gotten better by leaps and bounds.”

Attack of the Drones

The buzz starts way before the first sip these days, as drones zip around vineyards to tackle a variety of concerns. Aerial crop analysis, once done by expensive airplane flyovers, can survey 1,000 acres in a day and is the dominant service offering for companies like PrecisionHawk. Another company, Hawk Aerial, has drones that use multispectral cameras to assess vine vigor and ripeness variability, creating “vigor maps” from the findings. VineView’s equipment analyzes disease pressures from above, while Yamaha’s RMAX helicopter can spray fungicide in a more efficient manner. Even the original Rhone Ranger, John Alban, founder of Alban Vineyards in California’s Edna Valley, flies drones that project hawk squawks to scare away birds.

Super Scanners

There’s a growing number of scanning devices that track everything from nitrogen and sap flow to color accumulation and vine wood health. Software company Fruition Sciences offers them all, prompting winemaker Aaron Pott, who works on and consults for a variety of brands including Napa’s Seven Stones winery, to say, “I feel as if I can control one of the fundamental aspects of terroir with godlike precision.”

Grapes that Play it Cool

Researchers have developed cold-hardy grape varieties that are able to withstand temperatures as low as -30˚F. This allows growers to cultivate wine grapes in areas like the upper Midwest and the Northeast, where frigid weather was a significant barrier.

Smart Irrigation

Remote sensors developed by companies like WaterBit and Tule Technologies track real-time water usage and allow growers to irrigate with exact precision. The technology is used at