Issue link: http://winesandvines.uberflip.com/i/1031957
October 2018 WINES&VINES 19 W ith assistance from the Monterey County Vintners and Grow- e r s A s s o c i a t i o n (MCVGA), winegrape growers across Monterey County are address- ing red leaf viruses and vine mealy- bug through a collective effort and implementation of a co-created management plan. "Red leaf disease and vine mealy- bug don't know vineyard boundar- ies," said Kim Stemler, executive director of the MCVGA. "We can't treat the problem on a vineyard-by- vineyard, company-by-company basis. It has to be collective." She added that, without a group effort, even growers who tear out their vines will need to replant soon again, anyway, if neighboring vineyards go un- treated. "We want to save folks that money. The more attentive we are, the less they'll have to replace vineyards." Beginning in February, a small group of member growers met to discuss the possibility of working together to combat red leaf vi- ruses. Since then, the MCVGA has stewarded regular meetings, open to include all Monterey County growers, not just MCVGA members. Stemler estimates that, among growers who attend the meetings, 80% of all vineyards in Monterey County are repre- sented. (She added that certain AVAs like Santa Lucia Highlands and Carmel Valley don't suffer much from red leaf disease, which might explain why vine- yard representation remains below 100%.) Throughout the spring and early summer, participants de- veloped the bones of a manage- m e n t p l a n w i t h t h e g o a l t o reduce the impact of red leaf viruses in Monterey County vine- yards through collective effort. Core values of the plan include an all-hands-on-deck approach, a reliance on local resources and technology rather than federal or state intervention, and a com- mitment to meeting sustainabil- i t y s t a n d a r d s a s s e t o u t b y Sustainability in Practice (SIP), the California Sustainable Wine- growing Alliance (CSWA) and European Council and Commis- sion Wine Regulations. Meetings are currently on hia- tus to accommodate harvest but will resume in December to begin gathering baseline data on where red leaf virus persists and to what degree, including mapping, sur- veying growers and spectral im- aging. From there, growers will be grouped into "neighborhoods" to collect disease/pest data through HeavyConnect, a Sali- nas-based technology that tracks and aggregates complex data points in the field via mobile phone. The results will then be shared via Slack, a cloud-based file-sharing app. "The disconnect between ag- tech companies and farmers can be huge," said Stemler, who added that HeavyConnect came highly recommended by Scheid Vineyards, one of Monterey County's largest growers. As for trapping vine mealy- bug, the red leaf virus manage- ment group has developed a draft protocol to place traps every 40 acres beginning in March through mid-April, and to count and record males in traps every two weeks through Octo- ber. Lures are to be replaced every month and traps are re- moved in late fall/early winter until the following season. "It all comes down to the data," Stemler said. "Once we get the centralized data system up, we will know so much more about which vineyards are in- fected, and how those growers need to get involved." —Jaime Lewis Monterey Growers Combat Red Leaf Viruses WINE INDUSTRY NEWS For more information contact your sales representative or email us at info@seguinmoreau.com