Sustainable practices are beginning to supercede traditional methods of spraying vine crops with pesticides and insecticides. Something whic...
So you've got the wine bug. It's springtime in the Devonshire wine-makers domain. You itch to visit the vineyards. But do you see the cutworms gnawing at the buds? Dagger nematodes injecting viruses into roots? Fruit flies? Parasitic wasps?
A malicious bug brigade hangs out on the roots, the vines, among the grapes and in the air. No wonder vintners get vigilant and sometimes downright angry. This crawling cast of characters can often determine whether vines produce good grapes – or any grapes at all.
Once, wine-makers welcomed the invention of chemical sprays as a godsend against pests. But the chemicals also killed off natural enemies of the pests, a group of good, predatory insects and bugs. More vintners now consider these beneficial bugs their allies. Grapegrowers are creating sustainable habitats for them and taking a more nuanced approach to managing pests. They apply less damaging biological treatments and employ bug- and soil-friendly cultivation practices. Often, beneficial bugs are a crucial factor in ensuring healthy grapevines.
Not all bugs in the vineyard are created equal. Some are benign neighbours, while others carry deadly diseases and cause devastation. Without any natural predators, the small, aphid-like insect phylloxera nearly destroyed the French wine industry. Fortunately, beneficial insects and spiders battle against bad bugs such as cutworms, leafhoppers and mites; ladybird beetles and wasps are fond of many insects and aphids.
More holistic pest management is now an important part of a vintner's education. To learn about new biological and cultural techniques, they attend classes and review academic databases. They learn more about monitoring the vineyard for bugs – using a magnifying lens, say, to record the number of spider mite pests on vines.
It's a shift from earlier approaches. By the 1950s, chemical fertilizers, herbicides, pesticides and fungicides had become the sliced white bread of agriculture – an economical and standardised way to enhance soil and control unwelcome organisms. Now, as vintners hop on the sustainable wagon, they are finding more creative ways to handle pests.
But finding sustainable solutions to pests is not necessarily as simple as switching to organic or biodynamic farming. Some organic methods can destroy all bugs – not just harmful ones
Sustainable farming can safely include some chemical usage but this has caused criticism to be raised by some organic growers, but proponents gravitate toward them because their focus on so-called soft chemistry – chemicals that can eradicate specific pests. These approaches do not tie the hand of growers against using all man-made chemical products in the vineyard.
Over time, certain techniques have gained widespread popularity. The use of cover crops can help manage pests – as long as crops are chosen carefully and mowed in a way that minimises dust and doesn't harm good insects. Aside from preventing erosion, the cover crops serve as a habitat for beneficial insects.
Bugs are also critical underground, in the soil. The choice of compost over chemical fertilizers helps attract helpful bugs and repel bad ones, which is why more growers are turning to compost.
The adoption of a wide range of sustainable practices within the UK wine-making industry no doubt improves the quality of the organic properties within your bottle of plonk. As more sustainable techniques supercede traditional pesticides and insecticides, we are not only creating a safer product to consume, but one that is more in tune with nature.