Sustainable Winegrowing with Vineyard Team

Grapes can taste normal after smoke exposure and still produce smoke-tainted wine. So how can growers know what's worth harvesting?  

Kerry Wilkinson, Professor of Oenology at Adelaide University in Australia, explains how grape testing helps predict smoke taint risk before fermentation reveals the problem. She breaks down how smoke duration, grape variety, and winemaking practices impact smoke taint. Hear why some vineyard sprays can make grapes more susceptible, how treatments can remove smoke flavors without stripping desirable flavors, and what better predictions could mean for crop insurance.  

Resources:  

• 143: Can Barrier Sprays Protect Against Smoke Taint in Wine?
• 277: Tainted or Toasted? Decoding Smoke Markers in Wine
• Evaluating the Potential for Smoke from Stubble Burning to Taint Grapes and Wine
• Kerry Wilkinson
• Kerry Wilkinson - Wine Science, Oenology and Smoke Taint (YouTube)
• Smoke-derived Taint in Wine: Effect of Postharvest Smoke Exposure of Grapes on the Chemical Composition and Sensory Characteristics of Wine
• Smoke taint: Understanding and addressing the compositional consequences of grapevine exposure to smoke 

Explore & Support Vineyard Team: 

• Visit Vineyard Team to explore more resources, education, events, and programs
• Donate to support Sustainable Winegrowing and Vineyard Team's educational work 

Your hospitality team knows your wines, but do they know what's happening in the vineyard and cellar right now? Giving staff access to the technical side of wine can make them more confident educators and better storytellers. 

Resources: 

• Apply for SIP Certified Wine
• Join the SIP Certified Wine Finder (Members Only)
• Marketing Tips eNewsletter
• Real Stories, Real Impact
• SIP Certified Marketing Toolkit 

Tell Your Sustainable Story Online Course  

Explore & Support Vineyard Team: 

• Visit Vineyard Team to explore more resources, education, events, and programs
• Donate to support Sustainable Winegrowing and Vineyard Team's educational work

Resources:  

• 308: Balancing Cost, Efficiency, and Sustainability in Vineyard Management
• 328: Rethinking Vineyard Weed Management to Build Healthier Soils 
• Amélie Gaudin
• Barriers and opportunities to increase soil organic carbon in vineyards: A case study of extension personnel in France and in the United States
• Grazing Sheep in California Vineyards
• Integrating sheep into vineyards: diversity of farmers' agronomic logics and trajectories
• SOC Persistence and Accrual in Vineyards
• UC Davis Horticulture and Agronomy Graduate Group 

Explore & Support Vineyard Team: 

• Visit Vineyard Team to explore more resources, education, events, and programs
• Donate to support Sustainable Winegrowing and Vineyard Team's educational work

By eliminating foil capsules and switching to lighter bottles, SAMsARA cut waste and emissions—reminding wine lovers that great wine doesn't need extra packaging.

Resources: 

• Apply for SIP Certified Wine
• Marketing Tips eNewsletter
• Real Stories, Real Impact
• SIP Certified Marketing Toolkit
• Tell Your Sustainable Story Online Course  

Support the Podcast: 

• Make a Donation 

Vineyard Team Programs: 

• Juan Nevarez Memorial Scholarship - Help students from vineyard families pursue higher education
• Online Courses - Earn DPR and CCA hours with expert-led sustainability trainings
• SIP Certified - A trusted third-party certification proving your sustainable practices with science-backed standards
• Sustainable Ag Expo - Join top experts at the premier winegrowing event of the year
• Vineyard Team Membership - Connect with a community advancing sustainable winegrowing 

Imagine one vineyard machine that can prune, harvest, monitor vine health, and help guide irrigation decisions throughout the season.

Manoj Karkee, the Norman R. and Sharon R. Scott Professor of Agricultural Science at Cornell University, explores how artificial intelligence, robotics, and cyber-physical systems can make farming more efficient and economical.

Learn how multipurpose and soft robotics can tackle vineyard tasks, how cameras and sensors feed AI models to guide crop management, and how human-robot collaboration reduces labor, input costs, and resource use. 

Resources:  

• 233: The Gap Between Space and Farm: Ground Truthing Satellite Data Models
• 249: Making it Easier to Use Satellite Data in Agriculture
• 312: Why the Best Ag Tech Is Built With Growers 
• Beckstoffer Vineyards
• Cornell University Ag Robotics Lab
• Manoj Karkee 
• Manoj Karkee | Google Scholar
• Manoj Karkee | LinkedIn
• Manoj Karkee | Research Gate 

Support the Podcast: 

• Make a Donation 

Vineyard Team Programs: 

• Juan Nevarez Memorial Scholarship - Help students from vineyard families pursue higher education
• Online Courses - Earn DPR and CCA hours with expert-led sustainability trainings
• SIP Certified - A trusted third-party certification proving your sustainable practices with science-backed standards
• Sustainable Ag Expo - Join top experts at the premier winegrowing event of the year
• Vineyard Team Membership - Connect with a community advancing sustainable winegrowing 

When we talk about sustainability in wine, practices like conserving water, enhancing soil quality, and supporting biodiversity often come to mind. But sustainability is about more than caring for the land; it's about caring for the people behind every bottle. 

Resources: 

• Apply for SIP Certified Wine
• Join 2027 ReSIProcal February (Members Only)
• Marketing Tips eNewsletter
• Real Stories, Real Impact
• SIP Certified Marketing Toolkit

Support the Podcast: 

• Make a Donation 

Vineyard Team Programs: 

• Juan Nevarez Memorial Scholarship - Help students from vineyard families pursue higher education
• Online Courses - Earn DPR and CCA hours with expert-led sustainability trainings
• SIP Certified - A trusted third-party certification proving your sustainable practices with science-backed standards
• Sustainable Ag Expo - Join top experts at the premier winegrowing event of the year
• Vineyard Team Membership - Connect with a community advancing sustainable winegrowing 

Healthy soils are built through years of management decisions and sometimes rethinking old practices. Jim Lincoln, General Manager of Beckstoffer Vineyards in Napa Valley, shares how his approach to weed management has evolved from cultivation and herbicides to mowing, sheep grazing, cover crops, and no-till practices.

Learn how these changes have improved under-vine soil health, influenced weed populations, and affected costs. Jim discusses the real-world tradeoffs of building soil health and the opportunities it creates to improve fruit quality. 

Resources:  

• 128: A New Focus on Weed Management (Rebroadcast)
• 229: Weed Control in Vineyards
• Beckstoffer Vineyards
• Jim Lincoln Named Senior Vineyard and Environmental Sustainability Manager of Beckstoffer Vineyards
• University of California Integrated Pest Management Integrated Weed Management 

Support the Podcast: 

• Make a Donation 

Vineyard Team Programs: 

• Juan Nevarez Memorial Scholarship - Help students from vineyard families pursue higher education
• Online Courses - Earn DPR and CCA hours with expert-led sustainability trainings
• SIP Certified - A trusted third-party certification proving your sustainable practices with science-backed standards
• Sustainable Ag Expo - Join top experts at the premier winegrowing event of the year
• Vineyard Team Membership - Connect with a community advancing sustainable winegrowing

Growers rarely taste the wine made from their grapes. At Hope Family Wines, Stasi Seay uses annual tastings to help them connect their farming decisions to what's in the glass. 

Resources: 

• Apply for SIP Certified Wine
• Marketing Tips eNewsletter
• Real Stories, Real Impact
• SIP Certified Marketing Toolkit
• Tell Your Sustainable Story Online Course  

Support the Podcast: 

• Make a Donation 

Vineyard Team Programs: 

• Juan Nevarez Memorial Scholarship - Help students from vineyard families pursue higher education
• Online Courses - Earn DPR and CCA hours with expert-led sustainability trainings
• SIP Certified - A trusted third-party certification proving your sustainable practices with science-backed standards
• Sustainable Ag Expo - Join top experts at the premier winegrowing event of the year
• Vineyard Team Membership - Connect with a community advancing sustainable winegrowing 

Microbats are tiny natural predators with a big appetite for insects, but the uniform structure of a vineyard can keep them from venturing far into the block. Matt Fowles, Owner and CEO of Fowles Wine, noticed that vineyard blocks near trees had less moth pressure than those bordered by open grassland.

He shares how that observation inspired a system of vertical structures designed to give microbats echolocation points and encourage them to move deeper into the vineyard. Early trials show increased bat activity and promising potential for natural pest control in vineyards. 

Resources:  

• 272: 30 Gophers a Night: Why Barn Owls Belong in Your Vineyard
• 306: Using Barn Owls for Gopher and Rodent Control in Vineyards
• Bat Navs: A project by Fowles – Series Trailer 
• Fowles Wine Activates $500K Grant to Go Into Bat for Aussie Viticulture, Safeguarding Against Costly Pests
• Matt Fowles - Fowles Wines - a cool-climate wine producer
• Microbats (little bats) 
• Microbat | Wikipedia
• The bats safeguarding against pests in vineyards
• What are 5 species of microbats? 

Support the Podcast: 

• Make a Donation 

Vineyard Team Programs: 

• Juan Nevarez Memorial Scholarship - Help students from vineyard families pursue higher education
• Online Courses - Earn DPR and CCA hours with expert-led sustainability trainings
• SIP Certified - A trusted third-party certification proving your sustainable practices with science-backed standards
• Sustainable Ag Expo - Join top experts at the premier winegrowing event of the year
• Vineyard Team Membership - Connect with a community advancing sustainable winegrowing 

Social media keeps changing, but wineries can stay relevant with a focused strategy. Heather Daenitz (Craft & Cluster) shares practical advice on Instagram Stories, audience engagement, searchable content, authentic video, and content series that help wineries connect with wine consumers. 

Resources: 

• Apply for SIP Certified Wine
• Join the SIP Certified Wine Finder (Members Only)
• Marketing Tips eNewsletter
• Real Stories, Real Impact
• SIP Certified Marketing Toolkit
• Tell Your Sustainable Story Online Course  

Support the Podcast: 

• Make a Donation 

Vineyard Team Programs: 

• Juan Nevarez Memorial Scholarship - Help students from vineyard families pursue higher education
• Online Courses - Earn DPR and CCA hours with expert-led sustainability trainings
• SIP Certified - A trusted third-party certification proving your sustainable practices with science-backed standards
• Sustainable Ag Expo - Join top experts at the premier winegrowing event of the year
• Vineyard Team Membership - Connect with a community advancing sustainable winegrowing