VINEYARD MENAGERIE
Sustainable winemaking becomes its own ecosystem with armadillos, falcons and pigs
At Tablas Creek winery in Paso Robles, Calif., 200 black-faced Dorper sheep munch weeds among rows of vines. Along the way, they fertilize the soil while donkeys and Spanish mastiffs ward off coyotes and mountain lions.
Owls zoom from vineyard boxes to eliminate more than 500 vine root-eating gophers a year. Chickens scratch the earth, scarfing up unwelcome bugs.
A couple of decades ago, this vineyard menagerie would have been highly unusual. Now, the commitment to organic and biodynamic viticulture has pushed top wineries across the globe to look to nature for alternatives to chemicals. Furry, feathered, scaly, and four-legged animals (even bats) have become essential winery employees, contributing to vineyards' overall health by replacing toxic pesticides and herbicides.
“It's about creating an ecosystem,” says partner Jason Haas. “The sheep replace tractors and reduce greenhouse gas emissions, save money on fuel and help create healthy soils with the micro-organisms they leave behind in manure.”
Right now, he has weasels on his mind as a good addition.
Not every vineyard animal experiment works out. New Zealand's Yealands estate tried giant guinea pigs as weed eaters. Alas, they became a favourite food for falcons and hawks. But many of the critters prized in vineyards right now might surprise you.
ARMADILLOS
Armour-shelled armadillos use their long, sticky tongues to feast on the aggressive ants that damage vines and leaves at Bodega Chacra, a boutique pinot noir winery in Patagonia, on the edge of Argentina's central desert. Encouraging them means owner Piero Incisa della Rocchetta doesn't have to put out poisonous ant traps.
NORWEGIAN FJORD HORSES
Horse power for tilling vineyard soil is now common, especially in France's Loire Valley and Bordeaux.
You'll find the most unusual horse breed at Odfjell winery in Maipo Valley, Chile. One of the world's oldest breeds, they are small, tough and, above all, sure-footed, even on steep mountain vineyards.
KUNEKUNE PIGS
Sweet-tempered, hairy kunekune porkers (pronounced coonee coonee), a heritage breed from New Zealand, are good vineyard weed mowers, which is why the owners of Oregon's Balanced Earth Farm send them out in rotation with Scottish highland cattle and sheep. kunekunes don't tear up the turf, as other pigs do, and they nicely complete the eco-circle by ending up as the main course at family dinners.
SNAKES
Not being a snake fan, I was a tad alarmed to find Bordeaux's Château Coutet in St. Emilion experimenting with three varieties of non-venomous serpents. Co-owner Adrien David-beaulieu says they restrain the population of destructive rodents that eat succulent vine roots and dig underground tunnels that dry out vineyard soil. To make sure he has enough snakes, David-beaulieu spreads large black “carpets” on the ground in the vineyard to trap morning heat, and the snakes take refuge under them.
INDIAN RUNNER DUCKS
Every morning at precisely 10:30 a.m., a massive squad of ducks marches off to the vineyards at Vergenoegd Low wine estate in the Stellenbosch region of South Africa. They're foraging for white dune snails, an invasive species that eats buds on the grapevines in spring.
MULES
Come spring in Bordeaux, you'll see Poitevin mules among the oldest vines at Domaine de Chevalier.
“We can't use tractors, because old vines aren't in straight rows,” says Olivier Bernard, whose family owns the estate. “With mules, we can adapt the work to each individual vine and avoid damaging the roots and shoots.”
Like horses, mules don't compact the soil, and that allows more microbes to flourish in the soil, adding character and freshness to the wines. Mules are less nervous than horses and have more strength and endurance.
FALCONS
Hungry birds, especially aggressive starlings, have a voracious appetite for sugar-rich ripe grapes.
Soaring falcons scare them off. Napa wineries use peregrine falcons, which split the flocks into smaller groups, that can do less damage. Falcons cost much less than draping nets over the vines.
SHEEP
The most common eco-lawn mowers are easy to control: Sheep can be kept busy, from winter through spring bud break, munching weeds and keeping vines tidy in vineyards from California to England and beyond. In New Zealand, Two Paddocks winery in Central Otago maintains has about 25.
Yealands winery in Marlborough also has a flock of cute, woolly Baby Doll sheep, too short to reach up and snack on grapes.
CHICKENS
In Chile, at Emiliana Vineyards, chickens are essential in doing away with the vine weevil, which eats vine roots and shoots. At Jonata winery in Santa Barbara County, mobile chicken coops regularly roll from plot to plot in the vineyard, spilling out 60-odd birds that eat insects and enrich the soil with nitrogen from their droppings. Winemaker Matt Dees's animal-rich farming approach integrates chickens, turkeys, Catalina goats, pigs, and sheep in the winery's workings.