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20 WINES&VINES January 2018 WINE INDUSTRY NEWS S an Luis Obispo, Calif.—Enthusiasm to plant new vineyards has led to planting in unlikely locations, according to viticul- turist Dan Rodrigues. Speaking at the 13th annual Sustainable Ag Expo in San Luis Obispo, Rodrigues, a viticultur- ist and owner of vineyard-consulting firm Vina Quest LLC in Paso Robles, Calif., told attendees, "In the past five or 10 years, we've been pushing out into areas that are maybe just marginally set up for cultivation of permanent crops," add- ing that addressing regulations and issues of quality and sustainability in uncharted territory requires, at minimum, two years' planning. "It's hopefully in that very front end of vine- yard development that you have enough time to make changes to better your situation on the back end. If it's a new development, you're going to need some time," Rodrigues said. "Thirty days isn't enough time to meet the ecological and environmental concerns that we're all asked to meet." Dr. Mark Fuchs, Cornell University associate professor of plant pathology, also spoke at the event, sharing research about plant material and disease considerations for young vines. Fuchs, a leading scientist in the observation of major grapevine viruses like fanleaf, leafroll and red blotch, focused on new vines for vine- yard development. "Selecting young vines is a strategic decision," Fuchs said. "How do you know material is clean when you place the order? There's nothing wrong with asking for evidence. If it's clean, it's been tested and should test negative. When was the test put in place? Twenty years ago? Nine years ago? Last week? This is key, because 10 years ago we didn't know what red blotch was." "Make sure that when you collect your as- signed budwood, you have flat-leaf vines that don't show any apparent symptoms, and make sure you test some of these apparently clean vines for viruses, because you do not want to contribute to the dissemination of viruses in your own blocks," said Fuchs, who argued that people are more efficient at spreading disease than all of the vineyard pests combined. He also argued that, without strong de- mand, the supply for clean vines will never change. "We are the drivers of the systems. If there's no demand for clean material, why would they supply clean material? If we con- tinue on the same trend and just add another virus to be monitored and tested for, we are not learning the lessons from the past 50 years, and we do the same over and over and over again. That doesn't lead to confidence in the cleanliness of the material we put in the ground. I know there are a lot of people invest- ing resources in terms of management to en- sure that the level of confidence is pretty high, as high as possible. However if we do not change—we together, and it's only a grassroots movement that will be impactful in terms of changing the framework of a certification pro- gram—we will not get there." —Jaime Lewis Researchers: Clean Sites and Vines Are Part of Sustainability Viticulturist Dan Rodrigues of Vina Quest LLC speaks about vineyard development.