Falcons
Hungry birds, especially aggressive starlings, have a voracious appetite for sugar-rich ripe grapes. They peck holes in individual berries, which allows bacteria and mold to destroy them, and they nosh on whole grapes, too.
Soaring falcons scare them off, which is why such Napa wineries as Bouchaine Vineyards hire falcon-whisperer Rebecca Rosen during the harvest season. On sighting her peregrine falcons (one of them named Rambo), birds head for the trees. Rambo splits the flocks into smaller groups, that can do less damage. A bonus: Falcons cost much less than draping nets over the vines.
In New Zealand, the fierce endangered native Karearea falcon helps Felton Road winery in Central Otago control rabbits, the region’s top pest, swooping down at speeds of up to 200 km an hour.
Sheep
The most common eco-lawnmowers 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, owned by actor Sam Neill, maintains about 25. Some are named after celebrities so he won’t be tempted to eat them.
Yealands winery in Marlborough also has a flock of cute, woolly Baby Doll sheep, only 17-inches to 24-inches tall, which is 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 84-acre vineyard, spilling out 60-odd birds that eat insects and enrich the soil with nitrogen from their droppings. (The owner, sports billionaire Stan Kroenke, also owns Napa’s Screaming Eagle.) Winemaker Matt Dees’s animal-rich farming approach integrates chickens, turkeys, Catalina goats, pigs, and sheep in the winery’s workings. “Almost all could be on the winery payroll,” he laughs.
.
This article was provided by Bloomberg News.