MONDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 2025. BY THE VINEYARD TEAM.
The Vineyard Team’s Sustainable Winegrowing podcast brings you the latest in science and research for the wine industry. This popular on-the-go sustainable farming educational resource provides in-depth technical information on topics like integrated pest management, fruit quality, water conservation and nutrient management from experts like Dr. Marc Fuchs of Cornell University, Dr. Michelle Moyer of Washington State University, Cooperative Extension Specialists, veteran growers and more. These podcasts will not only make you smarter, but will also help you increase efficiency, conserve resources and produce better fruit.
Especially exciting for Lodi is podcast #231 featuring animal lover Kendra Altnow of LangeTwins Family Winery & Vineyards. Kendra is a Lodi Winegrape Commission LODI RULES Committee Member and in 2024, LangeTwins won the California Green Medal Leadership Award. To learn more about Kendra after listening to her podcast episode linked below, check out Randy Caparoso’s Lodi Wine blog post, “Women of Lodi’s wine industry: LangeTwins Family’s Kendra Altnow.”
THE VINEYARD TEAM’S TOP FIVE SUSTAINABLE WINEGROWING
PODCASTS OF 2024
(click on titles to link to podcast episodes)
211: Vineyard Nutrient Management Across the United States
When it comes to nutrition in your vineyard, you need to know the environment that your vineyard is planted in including mineral nutrition, soil microbes, nitrogen from rainwater, and nutrients or potentially salt from well water. Fritz Westover, Host of the Vineyard Underground Podcast and Founder of Virtual Viticulture Academy, shares a big-picture approach to nutrient management that is practical for any grower. He covers why it’s important to test tissue at both bloom and veraison, how to take tissue samples and when macro/micronutrient additions are most essential.
215: Biochar Production on a Commercial Scale
Adding biochar as a soil amendment creates an ideal habitat for beneficial microorganisms. Sitos Group CEO and Co-founder Mayo Ryan and PR, Marketing, and Communications Manager Jessica Bronner explain how biochar amendments improve disease resistance, plant health, pest resistance, water retention and drought mitigation. The team explains three different ways to make biochar and why they have chosen to use the slow pyrolysis method to ultimately produce biochar for different soil types.
217: Combating Climate Chaos with Adaptive Winegrape Varieties
Erratic weather like deluge rain, longer falls and patches of drought disrupt vinifera’s adaptation to long-sustained winters. Jason Londo, Associate Professor of Horticulture in the School of Integrative Plant Sciences at Cornell AgriTech, explains how big weather changes in the Pacific Northeast can cause vines to wake up earlier posing a risk of freeze or frost damage. By researching acclimation and deacclimation, Jason is working to breed and select varieties for enhanced cold resistance, drought resistance, pest resistance, plus good fruit quality. In the future, to reduce inputs in vineyards and increase economic sustainability, we need to put the right grape in the right climate.
229: Weed Control in Vineyards
Trying to manage the weeds in your vineyard? John Roncoroni, Weed Science Farm Advisor Emeritus with the University of California Cooperative Extension, Agriculture and Natural Resources covers control practices including biological, mechanical, cultural, chemical and perhaps in the future, electrocution. Although weeds rarely compete with vines, they can host insect and vertebrate pests and get in the way of pruning crews, increasing labor costs. Listen in for John’s number one tip to better manage weeds in your vineyard.
231: Stacking Regenerative Practices to Create a Healthy Vineyard
LangeTwins has implemented individual regenerative practices but now they are asking, what would happen if they stacked them? Kendra Altnow, Sustainability Manager at LangeTwins Family Winery & Vineyards and a 5th generation Lange, shares Project Terra. Their goals are to increase biodiversity, build and enrich the soil, improve watersheds through shifting farming practices, restoration and conservation. They are accomplishing these goals through grazing livestock, establishing permanent ground cover, reducing tillage, improving native habitat, and reducing reliance on herbicides, insecticides and fungicides.
GET MORE
Subscribe on iHeartRADIO, iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher, TuneIn, or wherever you listen so you never miss an episode on the latest science and research with the Sustainable Winegrowing Podcast.
ABOUT THE VINEYARD TEAM
Promoting sustainable winegrowing since 1994, the Vineyard Team is an organization dedicated to sustainable farming through research, education and grower-to-grower networking. Every November, the Vineyard Team hosts an outstanding Sustainable Ag Expo.
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