Case studies

Bedrock Vineyard on customising Sectormentor.

Bedrock Vineyard on customising Sectormentor for their small, dynamic, and value-driven team
Bedrock Vineyard on customising Sectormentor for their small, dynamic, and value-driven team 1800 1271 Sectormentor

Bedrock Vineyard has been farmed since 1854, and is home to some of the oldest working vines in California. Today, Oliver Lockhart, Casey Barton, and a small dedicated team led by Jake Neustadt are simultaneously farming and rehabilitating the historic ranch, alongside other vineyard sites across California. Bedrock Vineyard is Regenerative Organic Certified (ROC), with their focus being on rebuilding eco-systems, landscapes, soils and biodiversity. 

Given the complexity of this historic site, how does a small team manage over 152 acres of old vines holistically? We recently interviewed Oliver and Casey from the team at Bedrock Vineyard on customising Sectormentor to support their team.

In this case study you’ll learn how Bedrock:

  • Cut decision-making time by 75%
  • Customised Sectormentor for on-site experiments and surveys
  • Uses Sectormentor for ROC certification audits
  • Streamlined team communication and task allocation to one central platform

Using Sectormentor’s reports to make confident decisions in one quarter of the time

Before Sectormentor, the team at Bedrock were “using another data system, spreadsheets, and communicating photos through text”. In Oliver’s words, “it was definitely just kind of all over the place.”


Yield predictions

Calculating yield predictions was a strenuous task that required inputting collected data into a complex spreadsheet. The Bedrock team now use Sectormentor’s Yield Prediction Tool to provide estimates in minutes:

“When we were doing yield predictions, before it was much more like take your counts, transfer them into a spreadsheet, then build out that spreadsheet. Sectormentor’s yield predictor has made it very easy – it’s plug and play. So we’ve saved time from a data transfer perspective.”
– Casey Barton


Phenological tracking

Using Sectormentor’s Phenology Report has also helped everyone in the team stay updated on seasonal progression:

“It’s been really useful being able to track phenology, and take a quick look at that and see exactly where we’re at. This year, for example, we’re very ahead of schedule, and that’s all tracked from bud break to bloom. Making sure that we’re still on that predicted schedule has been easy to visualise as well.”
– Casey Barton


Time savings – from 2 hours to 30 minutes

Now, having pruning weights, cluster counts, and yield history reports displayed alongside live yield predictions gives the team much more clarity when making management calls. This has meant that they’ve been able to cut their decision-making time down from 2 hours to 30 minutes:

“Sectormentor definitely saves a huge amount of time. The old way we were pulling all these reports, it would have been two hours in the office putting this stuff together just to make a call on how we’re gonna prune, or how we’re gonna do our fruit drop this year… versus now, I can check everything over in the course of 10 minutes, and make a decision in 30 minutes. So it’s definitely a huge, huge time saver, the reports are very helpful for me.”
– Oliver Lockhart

This more streamlined process gives Oliver confidence in decision-making: “a lot of it is just peace of mind too, just being able to have access to all of that, and look over it, and know that everything’s there and accurate.”


Reports to synchronise the whole team

Being a small and fluid team at Bedrock has also meant that having a system to bring together different roles and areas of the business has been a huge asset; Sectormentor has synthesised everything into a handful of reports, in one central place, to be used by any team member:

“For a small company where we’re wearing a lot of hats, we’re doing everything from site management and farming to grape sales. It’s been very helpful to have all of our information in one place, to quickly access and utilise it. You have your yield prediction there, and you have all of your historical data right there, all in real time – yeah, it’s been extraordinarily helpful to have these reports.”
– Casey Barton

Sectormentor yield prediction tool and harvest report used by Bedrock Vineyard.
Sectormentor's Yield Prediction Tool
Sectormentor yield prediction tool and harvest report used by Bedrock Vineyard.
Sectormentor's Phenology Report

The benefits of customisability

For the Bedrock team, a major benefit to using Sectormentor has been the ability to adapt it to their exact custom monitoring needs. Rather than trying to fit their farming system into pre-packaged templates, the team have been able to set up tailored monitoring categories; this flexibility allows them to capture precise, ground-level details, like logging specific PSI readings to assess compaction or tracking visual soil health metrics for their Regenerative Organic Certification (ROC), all alongside their yield predictions and historical vineyard data. 

This freedom allows the team to experiment with their practices and see what works for their unique site. For example, Oliver and Casey ran an experiment tracking cover crop height, density and diversity in Sectormentor to assess when best to mow their cover crops, and how this affects next season’s cover crop growth. Their results showed that mowing the cover crops early in the season, as opposed to letting them go to seed, led to less pressure from undesirable plant species and a higher density and diversity of cover crop growth for the next season. 

(Photos + notes taken from the Bedrock Sectormentor account)
Cover crops growing between vine rows at Bedrock Vineyard.
January 2026: ``Cover crop legume dominant: peas, vetch, radish dominant. Flower seedheads forming, brome seeding in vine row.``
Cover crops growing between vine rows at Bedrock Vineyard.
February 2026: ``16 inches of heavy compaction mid-row & burr clover dominant.``
Cover crops growing between vine rows at Bedrock Vineyard.
March 2026: ``Cover crop highly diverse: radish, fava, vetch, crimson clover, grasses, phacelia, peas, filaree, geranium.``

The team also designed a comprehensive compaction survey in Sectormentor; they measured PSI across three separate points in each row (mid-row, tractor wheel, and under-vine) and GPS located each result to their map. The findings showed that the soils that had been tilled before being transitioned to no-till were much less compacted and had more biological activity.

“I think the big difference that we’ve seen with sectormentor is just being able to customise it – that’s been huge. We’ve been making new categories for soil compaction and doing a survey of that, which we did this off-season.”
– Casey Barton

The GPS locations of each recording in Sectormentor meant that the team could specifically target compacted areas with selective ripping or aeration, while leaving thriving rows in no-till or crimped cover crops. The GPS-located sample points also provide exact coordinates to return to for soil chemistry tests at a later date.

These examples show how Sectormentor supports Bedrock to, in Casey’s words, ‘farm proactively, as opposed to reactively’.

Sectormentor’s built-in certification & ROC audits

Gathering data for Regenerative Organic Certification (ROC) is a high-priority task for the team at Bedrock; so they integrated their ROC testing metrics and activities directly into Sectormentor.

By routinely uploading Haney tests, and PLFA (Phospholipid Fatty Acid) lab results, and logging visual soil health indicators on Sectormentor’s Regen Platform, all certification evidence lives alongside day-to-day farming notes, and can be accessed at any moment; when it’s time for audits, reports can be created in seconds.

All team members on the same page

For a small team managing multiple vineyard sites, communication needs to be clear and efficient. Prior to Sectormentor, the Bedrock team were using text messages to share information across vineyard teams, “we were just communicating photos and stuff like that through text, and yeah it was definitely just all over the place”. 

Now, having a platform to bring together observations, notes, and scouting activities means that everyone is always in the loop.


Organised scouting & avoidance of repeated tasks

Having scouting activities from all team members stored together and visualised in Sectormentor has proven invaluable to avoiding task overlaps, saving time in the process:

Sectormentor map of vineyard scouting pins and activity log.
Photos and activities uploaded to each block can be viewed in Sectormentor

GPS-located field notes & observations

Simple map pins with photos have also helped the Bedrock team to solve daily logistical challenges across their vineyards. 

For example, Casey logged a GPS-located observation into Sectormentor marking a hidden irrigation valve, meaning that anyone on the team could instantly locate it in future:

“Another thing that’s been really great is the map function. I was out at a smaller vineyard that we farm, and the irrigation system is just kind of this labyrinth with hidden valves in the woods. So being able to drop a pin and take a picture to show everyone ‘this is here’, so somebody later on doesn’t have to find it. You know? It’s just these little things have been really great.”
– Casey Barton

Sectormentor map of vineyard scouting pins and activity log.
Custom Category: Irrigation infrastructure: ``Red valve is main valve for entire ranch. Yellow valve opens block 6. To release some pressure and get pump going, open block valve (yellow) then slowly open main valve (red) slowly. Open intended irrigation blocks then close yellow.``
Sectormentor map of vineyard scouting pins and activity log.
Custom category: Irrigation infrastructure: ``Valve. Line is connected to main that runs along and crosses creek. Smaller line climbs hill up towards 1/2/5 manifold.``
Sectormentor map of vineyard scouting pins and activity log.
Screenshot of Bedrock Sectormentor account map showing green irrigation infrastructure pins at Nervo Ranch Vineyard

Putting the people back into farming

Aside from the logistical benefits of using Sectormentor, Oliver and the team at Bedrock value working with a system that is people-centred, that reflects their values, and seeks to re-empower growers:

“I think Sectomentor is also unique. I feel like it still centers scouting and being out in the field, having people involved rather than just running a camera through the rows… I think it’s important to have people centered in that system, making observations and being in the field. This is different to what a lot of the other ag tech companies are offering, I think that’s cool. It feels like Sectormentor reflects back a lot of things that we value at Bedrock: the best way to support people with technology is to empower them through their own observations in the field, rather than taking that away.”
– Casey Barton

Being able to share their reports and block-by-block breakdowns in an accessible way with other growers has also helped the Bedrock team to empower other vineyards and viticulturists in their regenerative learnings:

“We’re a ranch that is known for regenerative agriculture and what we’re doing in the vineyard, and so having this platform for me to use in grower relations is really exciting. There are all the benefits of using the platform, it’s so great, and so clean, and so much better than any system I’ve used, that’s wonderful; but then also being able to put together block by block, educational information for farmers and for wine growers who are interested in this data and what we’re doing…that’s a very exciting part of it for me.”
– Casey Barton

How Sectormentor could work for you

By pulling scattered records into a single, customisable platform, the Bedrock team have created a grounded, block-by-block monitoring system that saves hours in the office and supports proactive decision-making in the field. If you’re interested in how Sectormentor could do the same for your vineyard, visit our page for large vineyards and estate groups, email us at info@vidacycle.com, or book a demo.

A huge thank you to Oliver, Casey and the Bedrock team for sharing their work with us!

You can also sign up to our free 7-day email course which walks you through a simple observation routine that helps you maintain steady yields, build resilience into your vineyard, and plan harvest with confidence.

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Learn to Grow Resilient Vines
and Quality Grapes with our free, 7-day email course.

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Turn Your Observations Into a

Stronger and Healthier Vineyard

Clear Yield Forecasts

Confident Harvest Plans

Credible Ecological Monitoring

See how Sectormentor works for you:

Small & Medium Vineyards Large Vineyard Vineyard Management Company
The Sectormentor yield predictor open on a laptop and phone
Sectormentor’s guide to cover crops for vineyards

Sectormentor’s guide to cover crops for vineyards
Sectormentor’s guide to cover crops for vineyards 1800 1271 Sectormentor

Throughout our Regenerative Viticulture Series episodes to date, many leading viticulturists, agroecologists, and soil scientists have demonstrated that the space between (and underneath) your vine rows is central to vineyard health. 

A key tool to support the nourishment of these areas is plants themselves. As Dr Christine Jones, groundcover and soil ecologist, teaches: diversity aboveground is directly linked to the health and carbon storage capability of the soil, as well as pest and disease resistance of any plants communing with that soil, including vines.

So given this new set of guiding principles, we are rethinking cover crops; not just as groundcover, but as “eco-crops” (an investment in your soil ecosystem), in the words of soil scientist & regenerative agronomist Chuck Schembre. 

In this article, we have synthesised all of the specialist advice on cover crops for vineyards from the Regenerative Viticulture Series to date, including biological mechanisms and practical ground-level learnings shared by Dr Christine Jones, Chuck Schembre, Sérgio Nicolau, Mary Retallack, Nick Paulin, and Jordan Lonborg.

Photosynthesis & The Liquid Carbon Pathway

To delve into why cover crops are such a powerful tool, we first need to understand the relationship between plants, soil, and carbon. 

Dr. Christine Jones teaches that the majority of soil carbon is produced through the fungal energy channel (or liquid carbon pathway), a system through which plants send down atmospheric carbon to their roots in the form of liquid sugar. This goes as follows:

  • Step 1 – Photosynthesis
    Living cover crops use sunlight and atmospheric carbon dioxide to photosynthesise, producing complex carbon compounds (sugars, carbohydrates, and organic acids).
  • Step 2 – Exudation
    Plants channel up to 40% of these sugars down into their roots, releasing them into the surrounding soil as root exudates.
  • Step 3 – Microbial transport
    Fungi (both mycorrhizal and saprotrophic) and bacteria consume these exudates, building microbial biomass and sequestering carbon deep into the soil profile.

Tip: A quick way to see if this pathway is active in your vineyard’s soils is to dig a hole and look for rhizosheaths on your plant roots (soil particles stuck to root hairs via sticky glues the plant secretes to interact with the soil food web). Rhizosheaths are visual proof of fungal hyphae actively feeding off sticky plant sugars and building stable soil aggregates. See how Sectormentor can help you track rhizosheaths, as part of the 10 Regen Indicator tests here.

“What we’re always looking for is to cover bare soil, meaning 100% functional groundcover and active roots 100% of the time where possible. We know that the plants that we select to plant above ground will have an impact on microbes below ground, it’s all interconnected – the lovely thing about nature and ecology is every species has a place and they’re all really important!”
– Mary Retallack, The Regenerative Viticulture Series (2023)

Rhizosheaths on cover crop roots showing fungal activity.
Thick rhizosheaths indicating plant exudates and biological activity
The Liquid Carbon Pathway diagram.
The Liquid Carbon Pathway (Source: RegenAgSA)

The power of functional plant diversity

So far we have learned that the more plants you have aboveground, the more microbial biomass you will see belowground and the more carbon rich your soils will be. 

Next, we’re looking at functional diversity: a key component to ensuring that the soil benefits from your groundcover. Functional diversity isn’t just having lots of different species of plants, but rather, selecting a range of species from different plant functional groups, like brassicas, legumes or amaranths (See Dr Christine Jones’s full list of plant functional groups here). We’re aiming for functional plant diversity feeding into functional microbial diversity.

“The rhizosphere microbiome created by plant roots is distinctly different for each plant family. Hence the greater the diversity of plant families, the greater the diversity of microbes and the more robust the soil ecosystem.”
– Dr Christine Jones (2023)


Why is more functional plant diversity better for the soil?

  • More functional plant diversity, less plant competition
    Dr Christine Jones goes as far to say that having plants from different functional groups is vital, as plants from the same functional group can end up competing with each other. For instance, if you have only grasses as ground cover, these plants will begin competing with each other for resources like water and minerals. If however, you have 4+ functional families planted together, evidence suggests that these plants behave cooperatively, sharing their resources between them. In essence, functional plant diversity is vital for creating a collaborative, not competitive, environment in the soil.
  • More microbial activity, more carbon rich soils
    Mary Retallack, agroecologist, scientist and viticulturist, cites a study that found that wallaby grasses and leguminous mixes with annual grasses grow well alongside grapevines, and were able to produce more than double the amount of soil microbial activity and sequester more carbon than systems using traditional herbicide practices.
  • Microbe sharing & endophytes
    Dr Christine Jones shares that plants from different functional groups can work together and share their beneficial microbes. For instance, if a cover crop grows alongside a deep-rooted, drought-tolerant herb, the cover crop can signal to microbes around the neighbour plant’s roots for help when there are drought conditions. The cover crop can then ingest donated microbes as endophytes (internal plant microbes) that “switch on” genes for water retention during dry spells. When the vine doesn’t need these endophytes anymore, they’re expelled and the gene is “switched off”.
  • The “soil sociobiome”
    Microbes communicate with each other and with plant roots via chemical signaling. Dr Christine Jones states that diverse root exudates activate dormant soil microbes through chemical signalling, expanding the soil sociobiome and stimulating microbial activity.
  • Redox potential
    Sérgio Nicolau, 5th generation regenerative viticulturist and agronomist, notes that different plants alter the soil’s oxidation-reduction (redox) status. Species such as clovers (legume), black oats (grasses), and mustard (brassica) encourage a reductive soil environment, which is naturally disease-suppressive compared to oxidative monocultures (such as GMO plants).
  • Improves soil structure & water infiltration
    In arid climates or regions vulnerable to heavy downpours, bare soil leads to runoff, and erosion. Sérgio Nicolau observed that different plant heights intercept falling raindrops, breaking their kinetic energy before impact on the soil. Below ground, diverse root lengths and systems break up hardpan layers, creating macropores that allow rain to infiltrate deep into the profile rather than washing topsoil away.

Implementing plant diversity with your cover crops

What does creating functional plant diversity look like in practice? We can begin by selecting cover crop mixes that prioritise functional plant diversity. Let’s dig in to some examples:

1). Dr Christine Jones asserts that a minimum of four plant families is required for effective soil function. Here, she highlights a simple 4-species cover mix featuring:

  • Brassica: Radish 
  • Grasses: Oats
  • Aster: Sunflower
  • Borage: Phacelia 

Despite containing no legumes, this mix outperformed legume-only plots in field trials for nitrogen availability and soil biological activity because of its broad functional diversity. This could be a good starter mix, if you are only just beginning to use cover crops on the vineyard. 

If you’re keen to read more about Dr Christine Jones’s recommended plants, forbs and shrubs for companion planting, soil restoration and grazing, see here. 

2). Kiwi Regenerative viticulturist Nick Paulin, also began his cover crop journey with a simple 3-species mix of corn (cereals), rye (grasses) and peas (legumes). He describes this mixes as ‘working well’, but eventually upgraded to a 12-species mix from 5 functional plant groups (grasses, cereals, brassicas, chenopods, and legumes): 

  • Brassica: Radish, mustard, alyssum
  • Cereals & grasses: Oats, rye corn
  • Chenopods: Spinach
  • Legumes: Lentils, crimson clover, micro clover, persian clover, white clover

Nick adds that you can opt to include more peas and beans in this mix, but this is what works for his particular seed drill. Overall, he has found this mix to work very well across the whole vineyard.

3). Alternatively, if you wanted to explore an even higher species mix, Sérgio Nicolau uses a 16-species blend across 7 functional families:

  • Grasses: Ryegrass, black oats (soil structure, fungal channels)
  • Legumes: 4 different types of clover (including subterranean clovers & crimson clover), alfalfa, vetch (nitrogen fixation)
  • Brassicas: Mustard, radish, turnips (bio-fumigation, breaks up deep compaction)
  • Amaranths: Beetroot, spinach (tap roots break up compaction)
  • Asteraceae: Calendula
  • Polygonaceae: Buckwheat 
  • Boraginaceae: Phacelia (soil structure, prevent nutrient leaching)

Previously, Sérgio had been using a 12-species blend on his vineyard, but when he upgraded to this 16-species mix, he experienced a big boost in soil activity. 

Cover crop mix growing between vineyard rows.
Sérgio Nicolau's cover crops in April 2025, photos uploaded to Sectormentor
Cover crops for vineyards, advice for viticulturists.

Cover crops: where to start, maintenance & termination

Getting started

Jordan Lonborg, organic and biodynamic viticulturist & regenerative consultant, advises that when you are beginning to use cover cropping, first establish a data-driven style of farming and learn as much as you can about your soil context; you need to know what you’re working with. Without this baseline, you can be planting cover crop mixes, only to find out that what you’re doing is actually incompatible with the context you have. See how Sectormentor can help you learn about your soil context on the vineyard.

Nick Paulin, shares that he has found cultivating helps to establish the cover crops. In the first two years of cover cropping, he cultivates once a year to ‘reset’ the rows. Nick sews his cover crops in every other row between the vines, swapping these rows over every 5 or 6 years. He also sews his cover crops in Autumn, when soils are warmer in New Zealand; this not only accelerates crop establishment but also enhances soil organic matter, as shown by a 0.5% increase in organic matter in cover-cropped rows compared to grasses-only rows. 

Chuck Schembre advises using soil tests which look at soil chemistry through the lens of functioning biology, such as the Haney Test or PLFA analysis, to help monitor your soil health throughout the process of integrating cover crops into your system. These can be a litmus test for whether your cover crops are successfully boosting soil biological activity.

Maintenance

When his cover crops reach the height of the vine canopies, Nick Paulin opts to crimp, usually up to 4 or 5 times over one season. He has found that this encourages clover to thrive, as the larger plants are rolled down. This is as opposed to mowing, which Nick observed to negatively impact soil health.

Sérgio Nicolau uses his neighbours’ sheep to graze his cover crops during the winter when the vines are dormant, using holistic planned grazing practices. This maintains the growth of his cover crops, while improving soil and vine health by introducing a source of organic matter and nutrients through sheep manure. However, if you want to begin grazing on the vineyard, Jordan Lonborg advises to be careful about carrying times and capacity; ensure that you have a rotational grazing plan, this will help avoid any compaction or soil damage.

Terminating your cover crops

Chuck Schembre advises to not terminate cover crops at bud break; a common practice is to mow cover crops at bud break in late winter, driven by the belief that tall vegetation increases frost risk by trapping cold air around the vines. Chuck has found the opposite to be true; he keeps his cover crops as tall as cordon height at bud break, which moderates temperatures. Chuck emphasises that bare soil creates greater temperature swings, which can stimulate earlier bud break by warming the ground prematurely. 

Chuck’s termination guidance is: don’t mow too low, don’t mow too early, don’t overgraze, and aim to terminate before the crop becomes too lignified or goes to seed. When you do come to terminate your cover crop, Chuck also stresses the importance of doing it in a way “that’s going to return organic matter back down to the soil from the top down”. This completes the nutrient cycle and feeds the vines.

Nick Paulin’s strategy is to keep the cover crops going for as long as possible. When we spoke to Nick, he had run an experiment in one block to see how long his cover crops could last; he had compared cover crops that were 1, 2, or 3 years old, finding that the regrowth of the crops tended to taper off after 2 years. This has now informed Nick’s strategy to re-sew every 2 years to maintain growth and healthy coverage.

Sheep grazing cover crops in vineyard during winter.
Sérgio Nicolau's cover crops being grazed by the neighbours herd during winter
Cover crop mix growing between vineyard rows.
Images taken from Instagram (@Sergio.masterfarmer)

Perennial ground cover & native insectary plants

While annual cover crops are an excellent entry point, Australian agroecologist and third-generation viticulturist Mary Retallack advocates for moving toward 100% functional, year-round perennial ground cover and native plant integration.

Rather than disturbing the soil with annual sowing, Mary’s EcoVineyards program encourages establishing native perennial species in mid-rows and under-vine to provide:

  • Shelter – Perennial habitat for beneficial insects year-round
  • Nectar – Fuel and energy for adult beneficial predators
  • Alternative prey – Food sources to sustain predator populations when vine pests are low
  • Pollen – Essential nutrients that govern predator egg production and reproduction rates

In field trials, planting native perennial grasses and insectary shrubs in and around vine blocks increased predator populations by over 27%, including: lacewings, ladybirds, wolf spiders, and parasitic wasps that keep scale, mealybugs, and light brown apple moth populations under control.

Native grasses and insectary shrubs between vine rows.
Native grasses, forbs (including wallaby grass), and insectary shrubs at Clare Valley Vineyard, Australia
Native grasses and insectary shrubs between vine rows.

Tracking what works

Whether you’re trialling a new cover crop mix, adjusting your termination timing, or planting native insectary plants to improve biological pest control, understanding what’s working requires good observational records.

Sectormentor makes it straightforward to log vineyard observations, track soil health progress, and build a long-term picture of how your land is responding to regenerative practices. Over time, that data becomes one of your most valuable assets, helping you make better decisions according to your vineyard context. 

If you’d like to learn more about how Sectormentor could work for you, feel free to sign up to a demo here.

Or sign up to our free 7-day email course which walks you through a simple observation routine that helps you maintain steady yields, build resilience into your vineyard, and plan harvest with confidence.

Alternatively, feel free to contact us at info@vidacycle.com.

Regenerative-viticulture-course


Learn to Grow Resilient Vines
and Quality Grapes with our free, 7-day email course.

Send Me Lesson #1


Resources

Dr Christine Jones – List of Plant Families for Enhancing the Plant Associated Soil Microbiome (2023)

Christine Jones: The Secret Science of why Biodiversity is Key to Regenerative Viticulture

Chuck Schembre: Vineyard health tips from a Regenerative Agronomist

Jordan Lonborg: How to scale a regenerative approach as a vineyard consultant

Abby Rose in Conversation with Sergio Nicolau: Cover Crops, Composts and Sap Testing

Abby Rose in conversation with Nick Paulin: Crimping, Cover Crops & the Undies Test

Abby Rose in Conversation with Mary Retallack: Insectary Plants, Ground Cover & Functional Biodiversity


Turn Your Observations Into a

Stronger and Healthier Vineyard

Clear Yield Forecasts

Confident Harvest Plans

Credible Ecological Monitoring

See how Sectormentor works for you:

Small & Medium Vineyards Large Vineyard Vineyard Management Company
The Sectormentor yield predictor open on a laptop and phone
Vineyard data trends and forecasting with Sectormentor at Jackson Family Wines in Oregon.

Jackson Family Wines Oregon: How to use vineyard data trends and forecasting to avoid pitfalls
Jackson Family Wines Oregon: How to use vineyard data trends and forecasting to avoid pitfalls 1800 1271 Sectormentor

In Oregon’s Willamette Valley, Karl Mohr, Viticulturist at Jackson Family Wines, farms a landscape of immense diversity over eight different sites. In this challenging environment, the difference between thriving vines and a costly oversight often comes down to one thing: the ability to spot a data trend and take action before it becomes a problem. 

For Karl, who worked on the original installation of some of the sites he farms, returning to them today after decades has highlighted the importance of long-term data, “I remember there being a weak spot there.. and hey, it’s still there. This is why we need to learn from the past data and manage this area differently.” 

To address these persistent nuances, Karl has moved away from just using individual spreadsheets and records toward a consolidated, trend-led strategy with Sectormentor. 

The One Block Challenge on the Willakenzie Site

Karl recently signed up a block from the Willakenzie site up to the One Block Challenge, a global initiative allowing winegrowers to experiment with regenerative farming on a manageable, low-risk scale before transitioning the entire vineyard.

Willakenzie was a good site for this kind of experimentation because it has high vigour, as discovered through Karl’s tracking of pruning weights (going up) and % short shoots (going down) on the Sectormentor app. The aim of the experiment is to introduce no-till to the block to devigour the vines. 

“It’s a block that’s a good candidate for conversion to no-till because it’s pretty vigorous, has got a lot of vegetative growth, and the soil type, rootstock type, kind of lends itself to that.”

Jackson Family Wines Oregon using trends in data to identify which areas are good for no-till.
% short shoots decreasing on the One Block Challenge site in Willakenzie
Jackson Family Wines Oregon using trends in data to identify which areas are good for no-till.
Pruning weights increasing on the One Block Challenge site in Willakenzie

According to Karl, this particular block is where they have collected the most data in Sectormentor, making it suitable for experimentation and comparing variables with existing data from the block: 

“We’ve got, like, most of the data in that block…That’s all historical data, so we have a good baseline, which is helpful: if you have something that’s already describing how things are there. If you then change something, that’s a good set of data to have as a historical reference, to find out how things have changed.”

Using trends to stop future problems in their tracks 

Karl documents most of what he sees in the vineyards in numerous spreadsheets; all the crucial information is there already, but it would take him a while to flick through each spreadsheet and put together trends. His findings would also sit in his head; there wasn’t a physical log to compare trends over time. 

This is why Karl loves Sectormentor, because now he can see all the trends in his data visualised for him and loaded instantly on Sectormentor. Whether he is assessing his phenology dates on all sites compared to previous years, or whether he is looking at his soil health status on the Regen Dashboard, everything is accessible to him and anyone in his team.

For instance, in 2024 Karl noticed in some of the blocks on the Willakenzie site that the pruning weights were decreasing, signalling to him that he needs to reduce competition with the vines. To give the vines an extra boost, he has applied humic acid rich compost, with the view to continue monitoring, reassessing and treating based on the outcomes they find.

Data visualisation and time savings

“I’ve always thought, man, it’d be really cool if you could see this set of data next to this set of data… so that you wouldn’t have to switch between documents,” Karl explains. When data is fragmented, you lose the ability to see correlations. You might see that compaction is high, but without seeing the corresponding dip in vine vigour, you miss the “why” behind the “what.”

Sectormentor’s dashboard centralises these disparate data sets into a single visual interface. For Karl, the result is “insanely clear.” By comparing different metrics, he can trace a trend line easily, instantly seeing how soil health directly impacts vine performance.

“It’s insanely clear… I can just trace a trend line with my brain. This is how you’d want to have things laid out, because it’s just all in one spot. It saves me so much time.”

Putting phenological dates into his excel spreadsheets used to take him 15 minutes, now he can input them as he goes and simply refresh the app to see his timeline visualised:

“If you copy and paste your values into Excel, that’s like a 15-minute task, whereas with Sectormentor, you can just refresh the app. So that’s really efficient, and a lot less cumbersome.”

Jackson Family Wines Oregon using trends in data to identify problems before they materialise on the vineyard.
Vineyard phenological dates visualised in Sectormentor

Sectormentor vs. other vineyard management tools

For Karl, inputting data into excel spreadsheets or other apps has been a labour intensive task in the past, now he appreciates how simple it is to use Sectormentor: “It’s very easy to input data for certain values in Sectormentor compared to other other apps”.

For instance, Karl mentions that he has input a duplicate or wrong value before with other apps they use, triggering a time consuming and tedious process to correct the error:

“If you accidentally throw in a duplicate value and mess up the result, when you go to change the result, in other apps you don’t have permission to do that, and you have to contact customer service or ask somebody else to do it. Whereas with Sectormentor I can edit individual things. I can just go in and make that edit really easily. That’s a lot easier… Sectormentor doesn’t assume that I, as the user, will inevitably go in and Godzilla the data.”

Being able to input data while in fields with no signal is also a crucial feature of Sectormentor for Karl: 

“If you are trying to do your Regen Indicators, it’s very easy, you can do it in the field – that’s what I like about it, even if I’m offline. I was at the Zena site yesterday, where all cell service goes to die, and being able to input my data and then just sync it later is very, very helpful. There are other apps where that’s not the case, and you can end up just losing data sometimes.”

Karl also appreciates the integrated soil health aspect of Sectormentor; the Regen Indicators have become part of his routine when walking the vineyards. First, he initiates the infiltration test and uses the waiting time to collect other vital results, such as the basal cover transect.

“We’ve been collecting the Regen Indicator results over the last two or three years… they’re laid out very intuitively in the app. I just go to our data collection points, dig some holes, start with the infiltration test and collect a few other results while I wait for that.”

Jackson Family Wines Oregon doing Sectormentor's Regen Indicator soil health tests.

Rhizosheaths: 1: Some roots coated

Jackson Family Wines Oregon doing Sectormentor's Regen Indicator soil health tests.

Earthworms: 2

Jackson Family Wines Oregon doing Sectormentor's Regen Indicator soil health tests.

Nodulation of legumes: 1.5: Nodules across root profile

Using Sectormentor for certification

Looking ahead, Karl plans to use Sectormentor’s consolidated data for certification and case studies. By being able to show exactly why a practice was changed, such as a shift in fertilisation or cover cropping, he can provide a level of transparency and justification that benefits the whole operation, and not just the vines and soil.

About Sectormentor

Sectormentor helps you “know your soil” by providing the tools to track and visualise the health of your vineyard over time. From the basal ground cover transect to the Regen Dashboard, our platform is designed to help you build a resilient, thriving, and high-performing estate.

Ready to trace your own trend lines? Book a demo here to learn how we can support your regenerative journey.

Take the first step: our free 7-day Regenerative Viticulture Course

The shift to regenerative viticulture begins with a change in how your team document what they see on the land.

We invite you and your team to sign up for our Free 7-Day Regenerative Viticulture Course. This course is designed to be an entry point to understand the foundational methodology: how to start implementing baselines, using key metrics, and integrating the observation framework loop.

Before you change what you do on your vineyards, change how you see them.

Regenerative-viticulture-course


Learn to Grow Resilient Vines
and Quality Grapes with our free, 7-day email course.

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If you’re running a multi-site vineyard operation and want to explore whether Sectormentor fits the way your team works, get in touch at info@vidacycle.com, or book a demo here.


Turn Your Observations Into a

Stronger and Healthier Vineyard

Clear Yield Forecasts

Confident Harvest Plans

Credible Ecological Monitoring

See how Sectormentor works for you:

Small & Medium Vineyards Large Vineyard Vineyard Management Company
The Sectormentor yield predictor open on a laptop and phone
Vineworks team member using Sectormentor to scout a UK vineyard across multiple client sites.

How Vineworks coordinates scouting, pruning, and planning across 20+ vineyard sites
How Vineworks coordinates scouting, pruning, and planning across 20+ vineyard sites 1256 1094 Sectormentor

If you run a vineyard management company, you might be familiar with scattered spreadsheets, photos in numerous camera rolls, and each season’s data spread between multiple folders. Multiply that across ten or twenty client vineyards, and you’ll find that the time it takes to coordinate everything starts to eat into the time you should be spending in the vineyard.

Vineworks is a UK-based vineyard management consultancy responsible for the planting, maintenance, and profitability of multiple vineyard sites all over the UK. Tom Reid, their Head of Vineyard Services, manages operations across all of those sites. We spoke to him about how his team use Sectormentor to streamline their team coordination; from daily scouting, through to the big pruning decisions that shape each vineyard’s productivity and yield.

One platform for every site

For a company managing multiple vineyard clients, each with different varieties, terroirs, and priorities, you need a tool that is flexible and customisable, designed for multi-person use, and works out in the field with no signal and muddy hands. 

What Vineworks needed was a platform they could shape to fit their operation rather than the other way around. As Tom puts it:

“We were looking for something really simple, and really customisable at the same time. With Sectormentor’s help we’ve been able to customise it, but still keep the simplicity of a data entry app, which is critical for us.”

A vineyard management tool has to fit into everyone’s schedules; if it requires training, workarounds, or needs your team to collect metrics they don’t find useful, it starts to take time out of everyone’s day. Vineworks cherry-pick the metrics that matter for each client and each season, keeping data entry fast and the outputs immediately useful.

Autumn vineyard rows above a thick green cover crop
Photo uploaded by Vineworks team to Sectormentor: 'Mowing need: 3: Medium (10cm)'
Vineworks team member using Sectormentor to scout a UK vineyard across multiple client sites. Photo uploaded to Sectormentor to track vine disease and health.
Photo uploaded by Vineworks scout to Sectormentor: 'General disease: 1: No disease. Notes: Nice clean wood'

Full visibility on every vineyard, from field to office

In multi-site vineyard management, no single person can be everywhere at once; Vineworks has scouts in the vineyards throughout the week, recording observations, photographing canopy development, and flagging issues as they find them. The challenge is ensuring that key information reaches the rest of the team promptly and in a format that is easy to interpret.

Sectormentor’s map layout gives the team a spatial view of each vineyard; detailing what was recorded and where. Tom describes using the bird’s-eye view to check whether his scouting practice was representative of the whole site:

“The map update makes it much, much easier for us to scout a vineyard quickly and effectively. We can look at the map and see how representative we’re being when we walk a vineyard, because you get a bird’s-eye view of yourself moving through the field.”

Back in the office, anyone on the team can review the latest observations without having to chase someone for an update. Photos, data, and notes from that morning’s scouting are already synced and uploaded into the system, organised by site:

“Our scouts will walk a vineyard, take lots of photos and make lots of observations. In the team time, back in the office someone else can click through, and we have a really good overview of all of our vineyards, all at once. Depending on what we’re looking at, we can dive in a bit deeper, or we can see simple trends, like ‘everywhere seems to be flowering around now.’ It allows different people to get eyes on all sorts of elements of the vineyards that we look after.”

For Vineworks, Sectormentor helps the team to spot patterns early across all of their vineyards and get organised about pruning and harvest planning. When everyone is working from the same picture, the quality of decision-making improves and the time spent chasing updates goes down.

Vineyard Management Company Sectormentor Dashboard to overview all client sites and activities across the team.
Sectormentor's Dashboard where you can overview all client sites and activities across the team
Phenology tracking in the Sectormentor mobile app
Each vineyard's phenological dates can be overviewed and compared to other client sites.

How pruning decisions get made in December

A crucial moment where both data and team coordination determine the shape of the next three months is the planning window before pruning begins in January. At Vineworks, the team come together to collectively assess each vineyard and how to prune it.

In the weeks before Christmas, the Vineworks team visit each site to carry out winter assessments; they record bud counts and charge counts in particular, which tells them how many buds to keep on each vine to balance yield and quality for the coming season (see Sectormentor’s Vine Health Indicator). Where possible, they’re also collecting pruning weight data, which gives a measure of the vines’ vigour and helps inform how much to prune. All of this contributes towards a collaborative planning session that sets the schedule for January onwards:

“Before Christmas we do all of our planning for pruning. The team will be out doing their winter assessments for the vineyards. At this stage we’re looking at what degree of pruning we’re going to do to each site, which can become quite a collaborative moment. We discuss the results of these assessments (pruning weights, charge counts etc.) and plan out what type of pruning we’re going to do at each vineyard, which then dictates the schedule for our pruning and has a really big impact on our next three months of work. It’s really critical for us to have data that’s easy to interpret, and then we can make a plan accordingly.”

When each vineyard’s data is all in one place, comparable across sites, easy to pull up and interrogate together, the team can focus on the decisions themselves; which vineyards need conservative pruning, which can carry more buds, and how to allocate team members across the full schedule. 

For a consultancy whose reputation depends on getting those decisions right for every client, the planning infrastructure behind them matters as much as the viticulture knowledge that informs them.

If you’re running a multi-site vineyard operation and want to explore whether Sectormentor fits the way your team works, get in touch at info@vidacycle.com. 


Turn Your Observations Into a

Stronger and Healthier Vineyard

Clear Yield Forecasts

Confident Harvest Plans

Credible Ecological Monitoring

See how Sectormentor works for you:

Small & Medium Vineyards Large Vineyard Vineyard Management Company
The Sectormentor yield predictor open on a laptop and phone

Roebuck Estates: How to be regenerative, save time and money, and produce quality grapes
Roebuck Estates: How to be regenerative, save time and money, and produce quality grapes 1795 1271 Sectormentor

We recently visited Roebuck Estates, a sparkling wine producer with multiple sites across Sussex, who are currently transitioning their vineyards to more ecological practices while still producing high quality grapes. Roebuck use Sectormentor to track progress of the transition and monitor vine health across their multiple sites.

Managing the transition to herbicide free with Sectormentor

In the last few years, Roebuck have eliminated their use of herbicides on all of their sites which has resulted in a dip in vine vigour and lower yields. Jake told us that this has been a challenging time for the Roebuck team, as they haven’t been able to accurately predict their yield estimates due to the changes in vigour. 

“We’re really in a bit of a transition phase where my calculation from lag phase and veraison to harvest hasn’t worked. Looking back, what the actual calculation was versus the weights at lag phase to what they were when we picked them has declined massively. It is, and it will kind of even itself out. The vines will find a balance again. By our management methods, and by our pruning methods, we will find a happy medium for them.”

This transition is being monitored by the Roebuck team in Sectormentor. Jake tracks charge counts and shoot numbers across blocks, comparing the data year on year to see how the vines are responding to the changes they’re making on the vineyard. Jake uses the Bunch Weights Report to visually demonstrate the drop in yield across the transition years. The data they’re logging is helping Jake to manage expectations around yield while monitoring vine health, and therefore ensuring quality grapes.

‘We’re able to visualise and create a picture of what’s actually going on in our vineyards and individual blocks. It’s better than what we would do on a generic spreadsheet; the report output is very good, and it’s visual. I can use it for Board presentations or team day presentations, I think it’s really helpful and, you know, useful.’

Chart of average bunch weight at harvest across seasons in the Sectormentor webapp
Chart of average shoots per vine across seasons in the Sectormentor webapp
Sun rising over a vineyard row
Pile of pruned canes gathered on the grass in a vineyard alley
Vine trunk with old pruning wounds before the new season growth

“It’s quite interesting to see how our bunch weights at lag phase and veraison have decreased over the years; and the relationship between the bunch weights at lag phase and harvest was really interesting for everyone to see. Visually, it’s quite powerful, we can say ‘look, this is what we’ve done, we’re in our third year of no herbicide, and this is the effect of what has happened.’”

The Roebuck team are also using Sectormentor to track changes in soil health. Jake notes that they’ve already seen a definite increase in earthworm activity since moving to organic fertilisers and eliminating herbicides; a measurable win for their soil health. 

Tracking and evidencing increasing biodiversity on-site

In parallel to their transition away from herbicide use, Roebuck have begun extensively monitoring on-site biodiversity with their in-house ecologist, Matt Howard. The move away from herbicides has already paid dividends in terms of biodiversity: rare plants like the Common Spotted Orchid, typically only seen in the neighbouring ancient woodland on the Little Brockhurst site, have begun migrating onto the vineyard floor.

Matt is using Sectormentor to track these changes in biodiversity; He plans to GPS tag and log detailed survey data for all the habitat boxes and Reptile Refugia mats he uses to monitor species, like the slow worm and common lizard. This saves him time, compared to writing in a notebook and transferring data to a separate spreadsheet, and ensures the biodiversity data is robust and comparable year-on-year.

This eco-system data helps the vineyard team to make management decisions:

“We’ve got between 60 and 70 species within the vineyard… If I survey next year, and we’ve only got 25, we have done something seriously wrong with our management practices.”

Wooden marker post set in a mulched vineyard row

One of Matt's Reptile Refugia mats, due to be GPS located in Sectormentor

Low sun over vineyard rows with grassed alleys

“We believe here at Roebuck estates that if we’ve got a healthy environment, a diverse environment around our estates, it’s only going to benefit what’s going on in the vines and what fruit we’re producing.”

Tracking disease, targeted spray programmes and saving money

The Roebuck team also use Sectormentor to track disease observations and pest traps, like the Brown Apple Moth, across the vineyards. This means that the team can have an idea of any problem areas, and the reasons behind their underperformance. Jake also notes how this saves money:

“I think it genuinely does save money… We’re in a position where we can identify where disease is, so we can implement a specific spray programme for that area and not have to worry about other parts of the vineyard. This saves us money on inputs.”

The convenience of having Sectormentor data to hand

With multiple sites, a team of staff, and numerous ongoing experiments, a central data platform has been supportive for Roebuck’s operation. 

“We don’t realise how much we use it, because it’s just become integrated into our vineyard routine… The fact that everyone can input data from where they are… and it’s instant! The team is out in the field logging changes and observations, and I can look at it when I’m at the desk immediately and start to make decisions about management.”

Jake also notes that, having instructions in the app that you are able to view when logging data or soil tests, means that he feels confident that the data being collected is standardised and is consistent. 

“Everyone’s doing it the same. So the data is as robust as possible.”

A huge thank you to Jake, Matt, and the whole Roebuck team for sharing their journey with us. Their dedication to using data to drive regenerative decisions is a powerful example of what is possible in the world of English sparkling wine.

If you want to learn more about Sectormentor and how it might support your operation, get in touch at info@vidacycle.com.


Turn Your Observations Into a

Stronger and Healthier Vineyard

Clear Yield Forecasts

Confident Harvest Plans

Credible Ecological Monitoring

See how Sectormentor works for you:

Small & Medium Vineyards Large Vineyard Vineyard Management Company
The Sectormentor yield predictor open on a laptop and phone
Case study: Johan Vineyard, Oregon, USA

Johan Vineyards: Using historical vineyard data to improve vine vigour
Johan Vineyards: Using historical vineyard data to improve vine vigour 1066 763 Sectormentor

Nathan Wood is the vineyard manager of Johan Vineyards, an 87-acre biodynamic and organic vineyard and winery in Oregon’s Willamette Valley. It’s a wonderfully complex vineyard with over 50 individual blocks, 15 different varieties, and 10 clones of Pinot Noir. Nathan shared with us his journey of experimentation, and how Sectormentor has helped him and the vineyard team with their progressive approach to viticulture. 

Experimentation to improve vine vigour

Johan Vineyards has been no-till since 2019, and dry farmed since 2011. This has been a challenge in the Mediterranean climate of the Van Duzer Corridor; over time the vigour of the vines began to decrease, most likely due to the vines and ground cover plants competing for limited nutrients and water. 

‘You’re really pushing the vine to a total stasis within the land environment in which it finds itself, including all of the general native competition. I mean, we’re doing some mowing out here, but we’re not removing the root mass of any of our competition, and so that’s gonna really show you any weak spots that might be there [in your vineyard].’

The vineyard team have had to be creative in finding new ways to experiment with the vines to find a reasonable crop load and stabilise vigour. Over the last four years, Nathan has been using Sectormentor to track pruning weights, cane weights, crop load, and to experiment with the amount of shoots to prune to, in order to optimise vine health in this environment.

Tracking pruning data on Sectormentor has been key to this experimentation process, as the team can compare these results annually and assess which methods have had the most positive effect on vine vigour. Nathan was very happy to share that this year the vigour curve started to go up again, showing that the vines are beginning to conserve energy from previous years’ growth and respond to the updated pruning techniques. 

‘The complexity of this vineyard and trying to understand what is going on in the land, this is where Sectormentor comes in, it helps me understand how everything is working.’

Old gnarled vine trunk lit by low sun

'Pruning weight (lbs/vine): 2'

Pruned cane tied along the wire above a green cover crop

Retaining yields during the no-till transition

The move to no-till at Johan has been very carefully managed – with a big focus on the % short shoots. Nathan highlighted the critical importance of a pro-active data driven approach to maintain yields during a transition to no-till.

“I think in the context of regenerative transitions it is important to address what everyone is so scared of: losing yield, through the transition,” Nathan explains. “We’re trying to retain yields while converting some blocks to more regenerative practices. That’s possible and you really need the data to make this transition smooth.”

The key metric Nathan monitors to prevent yield decline is the percentage of short shoots on a vine. This data point serves as an early warning signal of vine stress. If a block in no-till transition sees its short shoot percentage jump from 15% to 25%, the vineyard team knows they are in a sensitive position. To avoid a significant drop in vigor and a resulting yield loss (which could see short shoots rise to 40%), Nathan’s team takes proactive action:

“We have found that when you see those numbers it is important to lower your bud counts by 10% or so for the next year,” he says. “We have been able to do this without corresponding yield declines.”

This proactive use of data allows them to avoid costly, reactive inputs and instead make better shoot thinning and pruning decisions the year before. Nathan told us the philosophy aligns well with the Simonit & Sirch pruning techniques: prioritize fewer shoots per vine that are healthier and produce larger clusters, benefiting the vine’s overall health, rather than straining the vine with many small, meager clusters.

Farming this way has provided measurable benefits: over time, Johan Vineyards has seen the percentage of short shoots decrease and cane weights go up, allowing them to retain the same yield on a fundamentally healthier vine. Nathan notes that even their blocks 10 years into a no-till system are successful: “These vines will be smaller but it’s better to have smaller beefier shoots. You can have a smaller vine but have bigger fruits. We think the larger shoots give back to the roots whereas the smaller shoots don’t.”

Sectormentor as a tool for time-efficiency

The inclusion of all the vineyard’s datasets in one place means that Nathan can compare different variables between blocks and varieties and make quick, informed decisions: ‘Okay, boom, done. We’ve just made a plan for that block, concisely, using all of the data available, and in 14 minutes instead of going back and forth between 9 different spreadsheets for a month and a half.’

Comparing different data-sets simultaneously

The reports section of Sectormentor has been particularly useful in guiding Nathan’s decision making, ‘being able to dive in and see visualisations of your data makes this app different to any other software available to vineyards.’ In particular Nathan loves the custom reports to set different blocks side by side in graph format and compare what is going on in different areas, to see what’s working and what needs tweaking.

‘Being able to open up multiple reports at once, set them side by side, when you’re really driving deep down into what’s going wrong in a block, along with fruit composition, laboratory results, is just super helpful… Being able to look at [the data] in graph version, right next to my winemaker, we were able to make very, very dynamic, complex pruning decisions, and try to match the vine more correctly to the soil system that it finds itself in.’

Johan Vineyards is at the cutting edge of taking a regenerative approach to viticulture in the Willamette Valley, so they have not been able to rely on advice from neighbouring vineyards. This has meant that their data on Sectormentor has been even more central to understanding what is happening on the vineyard: 

‘One of the things about being super progressive is that we are at the bleeding edge of experimentation in vineyards here in Oregon. So there’s nobody that you can ask, well, how did that work out for you? Because nobody’s done this yet. And so, if you’re not quick with using your data, and quick at trying to make a response, then you can really push a vineyard too far, and that’s going to impact you.’

Vine carrying ripe dark grape bunches above dry ground
Vine carrying green grape bunches above bare ground under the row

Sectormentor as a tool for vineyard managers

The team at Johan have been using Sectormentor to monitor vineyard data since 2019. When Nathan arrived in 2022 to take over vineyard management, being able to immediately see the historical data of the vineyard meant he could build an understanding of the context and experimentation that had taken place there over previous years. This allowed Nathan to step into his role as a vineyard manager with confidence and ease. 

‘I was very, very happy that many years of data had been uploaded into Sectormentor, and that my predecessors had been using it for a couple years; it let me hit the ground running, quite a bit faster… It’s hard to imagine what the experience of working at this progressive and dynamic vineyard would have looked like if no software was being used and all the vineyard data was in 13 different spreadsheets… it wouldn’t have been better. I can guarantee that. I don’t know how bad it would have been, but it would not have been better.’

Sectormentor has also been a great help for interns that the vineyard have hosted in the past, ‘having the phone app be quick, easy, and intuitive is super helpful for them.’ The ease of navigating Sectormentor has been very useful when there is a language barrier between the interns and the vineyard team; Nathan appreciates not having to teach complex data inputting systems, ‘I am a farmer as well, it turns out. So, I’m better at driving tractors than I am at phone apps.’

Vineyard rows with grassy alleys under a clear sky
Orange poppies flowering along a vineyard margin

What is next for Johan Vineyard?

The Johan Vineyards team are currently taking part in a 3 year-long project with Oregon State University (OSU), to document how the major Oregonian soil types in vineyards react to different management practices, such as tillage or animal grazing. Nathan is excited to collect the soil data from this study and see how it fits into their current experimentation around vigour, ‘we can start working on evening out the increase in vigour in a way that is more informed by nutrition and soil health.’

Nathan also envisages Sectormentor’s new Heatmap feature to be useful for the team; there are many blocks with shallower soil on the vineyard which Nathan would like to see mapped out, to understand certain patterns in data and see if they’re related to soil depth.

Thank you to Nathan Wood for sharing with us what the Johan Vineyards team are up to at the moment!

If you’d like to learn more about Sectormentor, feel free to email us on info@vidacycle.com.


Turn Your Observations Into a Stronger and Healthier Vineyard

Clear Yield Forecasts

Confident Harvest Plans

Credible Ecological Monitoring

See how Sectormentor works for you:

Small & Medium Vineyards Large Vineyard Vineyard Management Company
The Sectormentor yield predictor open on a laptop and phone
Crouching between vine rows to inspect the ground cover and soil surface

Soil health and regenerative experimentation at Vinescapes
Soil health and regenerative experimentation at Vinescapes 2560 1707 Sectormentor

We recently spoke to Rob Poyser, viticulturist at Vinescapes, who won the WineGB Sustainability in Viticulture Rising Star award in 2024. Rob told us a bit about what he and the Vinescapes team are up to,  and how they’re using Sectormentor.

Vinescapes is a UK-based vineyard management and consultancy business providing hands-on and practical guidance to vineyards. They aim to help build long-term successful vineyard businesses, with a focus on harnessing the power of data and enhancing natural eco-systems for vineyard health and productivity.

The Vinescapes Approach

“We manage land on behalf of our clients from Cornwall all the way through to East Anglia, so it’s a lot of ground to cover. We’re constantly having regular team meetings. We share technical information, knowledge, we do a lot of internal training; it’s important that we upskill each other. And we spend a lot of time crop walking and disease scouting, out in the field, in the vines, which is super important as a team.”

Taking a collaborative approach has been key to Vinescapes’ success as a business and team, “it’s all about constant communication”. Knowledge sharing and upskilling each other has helped Vinescapes to grow, adapt, and come up with solutions together. In this way, they are able to build real experience and expertise as a team. This approach also extends to their relationships with vineyards and clients:

“Our collaborative approach with clients means we’re not only there to just deliver them fruit, but we’re there to help them over their long-term journey; to grow a successful vineyard business that will keep on performing. It’s this bigger picture, so to speak, not just getting a crop this year. We work with our clients every day to make real-time decisions.”

Person standing between vine rows holding a spade for soil sampling
Vinescapes’ Rob Poyser won WineGB’s Rising Star Award in 2024 for Sustainability in Viticulture.

How Vinescapes prioritise monitoring day-to-day

The Vinescapes team have a focus on spending time in the vines, disease and pest scouting client vineyards and crop walking, to build an intimate knowledge of each vineyard, and quickly solve problems as they arise. They have found Sectormentor invaluable as a framework to support this approach, making it easy to track and record vineyard data whilst sharing it with vineyard teams. This allows vineyards to be “in the know” and to learn alongside Vinescapes; “they get detailed reports every couple of weeks, every time we visit, which can be as detailed or data driven as they like”. Vinescapes also offers training, so clients can eventually manage the vineyard themselves with a more informed knowledge of their land.

Everyone on the Vinescapes team has access to Sectormentor and uses it every day. This allows the team to be co-ordinated, through having visibility on what everyone is up to, whether team members are in the office or out in the field. 

“I think that’s the key; from phenological dates to disease scouting to yield estimates, all throughout the year we’re constantly populating Sectormentor with information. It really helps me to manage and consult with real-time information on every vineyard I work with.”

Having vineyard data readily available helps the Vinescapes team to make quick and informed decisions about management practice. This is useful, for example, when it comes to the run up to harvest; at that time of year the team have meetings to discuss which vineyards will be harvested at what time, “we have a master schedule up and we talk about when we’re going to harvest specific vineyards based on the information we’ve put into Sectormentor. It’s super helpful to have it in the run up to harvest, it’s where Sectormentor comes into its own.”

The team have also been using Sectormentor to integrate with other vineyard technology, such as Sencrop weather stations. By linking weather data to Sectormentor, Vinescapes receives detailed GDD (Growing Degree Day) reports from each vineyard in real time helping them to: “learn more about the actual climatics happening in the field.”

Crouching between vine rows to inspect the ground cover and soil surface
The team at Vinescapes conduct regular soil inspections to evaluate soil health and conduct earthworm and biodiversity counts. All of this data is recorded in Sectormentor and is openly shared with clients to make the best decisions for soil and vine health and productivity improvements.

Building soil health across multiple sites

Vinescapes track soil health results to improve vine health and resilience, paying particular attention to areas in need of improvement. The team have all learned how to do Sectormentor’s Regen Indicators, using earthworm counts as a key measure of overall soil health and biology. The team also records flora and fauna species in spring, as this often directly relates to how the vines will perform later in the season.

“We’re a bit obsessive over soils… we record soil health data at least twice a year. We split the vineyards up into blocks based on clones and rootstocks, and we actually dig soil pits in every single one! The point of making soil health observations is to act on them, to really measure improvements or to measure when things aren’t going right and how we’re going to improve them.”

Soil lab testing have also helped Vinescapes plan their programmes for soil nutrition. They take soil samples and send them off for lab nutrient analysis regularly, “In a strange way, it refocuses the mind so you make vineyard management decisions that are going to improve soil health, because you’ll be held accountable at the end of the year when we all sit down and look at each other’s results.”

Regenerative experimentation

Having all vineyard data accessible and in one place has been key to Vinescapes’ ability to challenge viticultural conventions and see how they can do things differently: “Sectormentor is great for research projects because we can measure, look back and record what’s working and what’s not working. We can then look at all of our vineyards and switch between accounts… that is just, really, really game changing for us”.

“We’ve been working with Alistair on collecting data for international projects. It’s been fun to really push the boundaries of what’s possible [with viticulture], internationally and here in the UK; and taking on little projects, like looking at ways to actively improve under vine strips… It’s not just daily, tractor driving or crop walking – we are making real change to the soil and vine health of clients vineyards.”

Thank you to Rob for chatting to us about how the Vinescapes team use Sectormentor. If you are an run a vineyard, are a vineyard consultant or vineyard management company and are interested in learning more about Sectormentor, contact us at info@vidacycle.com, or book a demo with us here.


Turn Your Observations Into a Stronger and Healthier Vineyard

Clear Yield Forecasts

Confident Harvest Plans

Credible Ecological Monitoring

See how Sectormentor works for you:

Small & Medium Vineyards Large Vineyard Vineyard Management Company
The Sectormentor yield predictor open on a laptop and phone

Video Guide: Why do the Regen Indicators?
Video Guide: Why do the Regen Indicators? 2096 1592 Sectormentor


Video Guide: Why do the Regen Indicators?

To get the most out of Sectormentor’s Regen Dashboard, it is important to understand the value of each Regen Indicator test and what it can tell you about your soil health.

The Sectormentor Regen Dashboard presents traffic light benchmarks of 10 key soil tests, the Regen Indicators, collated by agroecologist and Vidacycle collaborator Nicole Masters. The Regen Indicators include assessments of: earthworm count, rhizosheaths, Brix barometer, legume nodulation, rooting depth, infiltration rate, soil insect score, a slake test, carbon stocks, and % of bare earth. The Regen Dashboard then provides tailored feedback, based on your soil test results, on which areas of your soil health need prioritising. Allowing you to assess your soil health can help benefit the productivity and health of your vines. 

In this series of clips, Nicole Masters delivers bite-size, digestible insights into what the Regen Indicators truly indicate, as well as the importance of soil health overall. Nicole shares her years of experience and knowledge on the topic of: why should I do the Regen Indicators?

Why monitor wormcount?

Falling in love with your earthworms is key to building soil health. Worms move through soil, metabolising organic matter, creating pores and adding structure for other soil organisms; they improve water drainage, and make nutrients bioavailable for plants. Nicole describes worm castings as the elixir of life! A healthy soil means lots of worms, in all shapes and sizes!

Key Takeaways

  • Earthworm castings contain secondary metabolites, plant growth hormones and more.
  • There are three types of earthworms that all move through the soil in different ways – you want to encourage a population of all three.
  • The tunnels made by earthworms create porous space where soil microbes can live, water can infiltrate, and roots can grow.
  • The number of earthworms found will depend on your soil type, for example sandy soil will have fewer worms.
  • If you have lots of earthworms, you are doing something right!
Video thumbnail: Nicole Masters on why to monitor worm count

Why monitor rhizosheath formation?

Rhizosheaths form when plants release sugars that attract microbiology to the rhizosphere. This microbial community releases mucilage which acts as a glue, sticking a layer of soil to the plant root. This layer of soil then protects the plant roots from changes in climate, moisture, nutrients and PH. Do this test anywhere on your vineyard, just pick a healthy looking plant and assess its roots.

Key Takeaways

  • A rhizosheath is a layer of soil that surrounds the roots of a plant.
  • Rhizosheaths protect a plant’s roots from changes in climate, moisture, nutrients, PH and more.
  • Rhizosheaths form as a result of the presence of microbiology and their mucilage, which acts as a glue in the soil. 
  • Rhizosheath formation can be impacted in unhealthy and compacted soils.
Video thumbnail: Nicole Masters on why to monitor rhizosheath formation

Why do a Brix test?

A Brix reading reflects the efficiency of a plant’s photosynthesis. When the brix of your ‘weeds’ (undesirable plant species) is compared with the brix of your vines (desirable plant species), you can see whether you are creating the best conditions for your vines, or your weeds! 

Key Takeaways

    • A Brix test shows the percentage of plant sugars within a plant, using a refractometer.
    • A refractometer measures from 0-50% Brix. One Brix is equal to 1g of sucrose in 100g of solution.
    • The Brix barometer assesses whether your vines (desirable plant species) are photosynthesising more effectively than your weeds (undesirable plant species).
    • If your vines have a higher Brix reading than your weeds, then your soil conditions are more favourable to the growth of your vines.
Video thumbnail: Nicole Masters on why to do a brix test

Why monitor legume nodulation?

Legumes form relationships with different types of bacteria in the soil which allow them to grow nitrogen-fixing nodules in their root systems. Legumes don’t fix nitrogen in all soil conditions, so it is important to assess if your nitrogen-fixing plants are functioning healthily.

Key Takeaways

    • Check regularly to see if your legumes are fixing nitrogen by assessing if they have nodules on their root systems.
    • Pinch nodules with your fingernails or a knife to see if the inside is pink or red, if so they are actively fixing nitrogen! 
    • If your legumes aren’t growing nodules, your soils probably need some love!
Video thumbnail: Nicole Masters on why to monitor legume nodulation

Why measure rooting depth?

Rooting depth measures the distance that plant roots are able to travel through the soil. If you have multiple plant’s roots that are concentrated at a shallow depth, this suggests something is limiting root growth, such as compaction, nutrient deficiency, or low oxygen levels. A healthy soil profile will allow roots to grow deep into the soil, forming a resilient soil structure. Next time you’re in the vineyard, check the rooting depth of your ground cover plants to test your soil health and structure!

To explore more about rooting depth and soil structure on vineyards, click here to read Mimi Casteel’s explanation on the importance of structural diversity.

Key Takeaways

    • The depth of a plant’s roots can inform you on the health of your deeper soil layers.
    • If the roots of your ground cover plants are concentrated at a shallow depth, you might be susceptible to flooding and drought, as roots allow for water infiltration and storage.
    • Rooting depth can be limited by factors, such as compaction or a layer of soil releasing gases.
    • Compacted soil can also affect a plant’s ability to grow root hairs.
    • Healthy plant roots of some species can grow up to 20 ft down into the soil! The deeper the plant root, the better the soil structure.
Video thumbnail: Nicole Masters on why to measure rooting depth

Why record infiltration rate?

Infiltration rates indicate how much rainfall your soil is able to absorb and hold onto. You want water to be able to travel the length of your soil profile and into your underground aquifers. Infiltration tests can also tell you about the structure and porosity of your soil.

Key Takeaways

    • Infiltration rates tell you how much water your soil can absorb and store.
    • It is important that water is able to travel through the soil profile so that aquifers can be refilled. 
    • If your infiltration rate is slow, it is likely that your soils are compacted or hydrophobic.
    • Cutting through the soil after an infiltration test can give further clues about whether water moves evenly through the soil profile, or whether there are areas preventing drainage.
Video thumbnail: Nicole Masters on why to record infiltration rate

Why look at soil insect score?

This test focuses on the presence of root chewing insects and pest populations. The more undesirable insect populations you can find in your soils, the greater the risk they pose to your crop.

Key Takeaways

    • Soil insect scores tell us about the estimated population of root chewing insects and pests in your soil, and therefore potential damage to your crop.
    • It is important to research pest pressures specific to your region.
    • Presence of insect pests can indicate that your soil ecosystem is falling into a decline, making your soil more susceptible to further pest damage.
    • Areas affected by underground insect pests appear above ground as lower growing patches of vegetation. You may also start seeing holes in the soil where birds are feeding on your pest population.
Video thumbnail: Nicole Masters on why to look at soil insect score

Why do a slake test?

A slake test indicates the level of aggregate stability in your soil, and therefore soil biological activity; this is because an aggregate is held together with microbial mucilage. If a small aggregate is put into water, it will fall apart if there is no mucilage to hold it together, indicating a lack of biological activity.

Key Takeaways

      • Mucilage secreted by soil microbes hold the soil together to form aggregates.
      • If the aggregate sticks together when put into water, it contains microbial mucilage which is holding it together.
      • If your aggregate is held together with mucilage, this means it is more resilient to flooding.
      • If you also see bubbles forming around the aggregate while it is underwater, this indicates microbial respiration is taking place.
Video thumbnail: Nicole Masters on why to do a slake test

We hope that these short clips expressed the magnitude of what you can learn from your soil with just these simple tests under your belt! By developing an instinct for these kinds of soil observations, you can fully engage with the changes you are helping to make on your vineyard.

If you have any questions for the Vidacycle team, please feel free to email us at info@vidacycle.com.


Turn Your Observations Into a Stronger and Healthier Vineyard

Clear Yield Forecasts

Confident Harvest Plans

Credible Ecological Monitoring

See how Sectormentor works for you:

Small & Medium Vineyards Large Vineyard Vineyard Management Company
The Sectormentor yield predictor open on a laptop and phone
Wildflowers growing under a vine before bud burst

Seresin Estate Vineyard: Stem Water Potential, Irrigation and Grape Quality
Seresin Estate Vineyard: Stem Water Potential, Irrigation and Grape Quality 1707 2560 Sectormentor


Seresin Vineyard: Stem Water Potential, Irrigation and Grape Quality

Seresin is the largest Demeter Certified Biodynamic vineyard in New Zealand. Based in Marlborough, the vineyard spans 50 planted hectares. The vineyard is managed holistically, with a diversity of animals and plants which formulate an ecosystem, including: olive trees, pine nut trees, sheep, chickens, cows, goats, ducks and bees. 

Seresin have been using Sectormentor to monitor their vineyard activities, including creating yield predictions from their bunch weights, tracking their yield, and visualising their phenology activity. This week, we chatted to Seresin’s vineyard manager, Cameron Vawter, who shared with us how the vineyard team are now tailoring their Sectormentor app to specifically monitor Stem Water Potential (SWP) in order to determine irrigation habits that maximise grape quality. 

Sun rising over a vineyard on the ridge
Aerial view of vineyard blocks with hills behind

SWP is a way of monitoring water stress in a vine. The process involves taking a vine leaf and placing it inside a chamber in which pressure is applied to the leaf to push the water out. The chamber measures how ‘tightly’ the leaf holds onto water, reflecting its vine water status or water stress level. The readings from these tests are negative, but the team input them as positive and read the graphs inversely to simplify the data visualisation.

Chart of average stem water potential per day across the season

Above we can see a graph of the Stem Water Potential of two of Seresin's blocks, tracked from late January to early March; the grape harvesting season in New Zealand.

‘When I begin the irrigation season, I might be at a 5 bar. Dependent on soils and weather I might go up to a 12 bar, at which I’ll irrigate and see the graph go back down to an 8 bar. We have different thresholds for different varieties and different desired quality outcomes. When I see my SWP go down, I won’t irrigate again until I start to see my SWP increase again. Now I want to assess which irrigations work best for the vines; I’ve found so far that longer, deeper and infrequent irrigations are the more effective.’
– Cameron Vawter

The main driver for SWP testing at Seresin is to reduce the amount of water used in irrigation, and therefore improve grape quality: ‘We know that decreased or better timed irrigation will improve our wine quality, as well as save water’. Reduced irrigation reduces water dilution within the grape; this results in smaller grapes with better flavour profiles. Some vineyards irrigate frequently to increase the weight and yield of their harvest, but the team at Seresin believe in ‘quality over quantity’. Cameron also describes how over-watering vines can lead to ‘over stimulated canopy growth, which can increase disease pressure, the need to spray your vines, and vine trimming. This all takes away from the ripening process of the vine’. In this sense, targeted irrigation will lead to a lot less work in other areas of vine and inter-row maintenance.

‘Lots of viticulturists will look at the vines and try and make an irrigation decision based on appearance, but vines can be deceiving. When you are working with multiple different varieties, sizes and quality parameters of the vines, they will all have different watering needs.’
– Cameron Vawter

Cameron plans to put his irrigation quantities into the Sectormentor app next, so he can see their direct relationship with his SWP readings.  He has previously found that his SWP figures spike after a short irrigation, ‘by doing a small irrigation, you are actually adding more stress to the vine in a short period of time; if you are able to do it right, your SWP will be lower for a longer period of time before it starts to rise again’.

Vineyard rows on rolling hills at sunrise
Wildflowers growing under a vine before bud burst

Overall Key Learnings

  • Longer, deeper irrigations decrease vine stress for a longer period of time 
  • Vines do not need as much water as you think 
  • Specifically timed and data driven irrigation habits, lead to better quality grapes

A warm thank you to Cameron Vawter for speaking to us about the exciting SWP experimentation happening at Seresin Vineyard. We love hearing about new ways that Sectormentor can be adapted to support regenerative experiments on vineyards!  

If you would like to get in touch with us, please contact us at info@vidacycle.com. If you are thinking of buying Sectormentor, contact us or click here. 


Turn Your Observations Into a Stronger and Healthier Vineyard

Clear Yield Forecasts

Confident Harvest Plans

Credible Ecological Monitoring

See how Sectormentor works for you:

Small & Medium Vineyards Large Vineyard Vineyard Management Company
The Sectormentor yield predictor open on a laptop and phone
Young vine in a guard within a grassy vineyard alley

Regenerative Experimentation at Mac Forbes Vineyard
Regenerative Experimentation at Mac Forbes Vineyard 560 747 Sectormentor

Regenerative Experimentation at Mac Forbes Vineyard

Mac Forbes vineyard have been producing wines since 2004. Located in the Yarra Valley in Australia, the vineyard prides itself on drawing upon the wisdom of the local Wurundjeri people, the indigenous community who have farmed this region for over 50,000 years. This has shaped Mac Forbes’s journey in viticulture, leading the vineyard to experiment with and adopt regenerative practices on-site in the last 5 years.

In early 2024, the Vidacycle team visited Mac Forbes to discover more about the regenerative practices they are experimenting with, and what they have learned from their experiences with regenerative viticulture. Vineyard manager Owen Littlejohns talked us through some of their experiments and what they have learnt along the way.

Newly planted vineyard with blue vine guards on a misty morning

Mac Forbes have been planting varieties of clover underneath the vines in order to rebuild nitrogen levels and fertility within the soil. Owen highlights that this success hasn’t come without complication, “it’s a constant battle to fend off the encroaching clover from the first cord wire. We’ve had more hassle with the crimson clover, as opposed to the sub-clover”. The vineyard team are now experimenting with other ways to manage the areas under the vines whilst also contributing to soil health.

Their next experiment will be to roll out hay bales down the rows, simultaneously suppressing anything growing underneath and adding a layer of organic matter to help feed microbes in the soil. The hay layer in-between the rows will also help to retain moisture in the soil; a necessity for a dry farmed vineyard. The vineyard has also experienced issues with kangaroos eating the cover crops, so the hay acts as a deterrent.

Standing among vines with tall growth in the row

Vineyard manager, Owen Littlejohns

The team are also experimenting in their high density blocks to see which natural material works best to suppress the intervine weeds. In these blocks, the weeds are a particular issue, as machinery is too large to go down the rows for weed maintenance. An alternative solution was to lay down a suppressive layer; they experimented with sheep’s wool, hay and biodegradable wine filter pads.

They found that the wool takes a long time to break down into the soil, whilst the hay broke down quicker. The wool did a better job of suppressing the weeds, but the hay also created a successful barrier. Overall, Owen recommends the hay out of the three trials, ‘it’s more readily available, it biodegrades quickly and it puts organic matter back into the soil’.

Locking moisture into the soil while dry farming has been quite a significant challenge for the Mac Forbes team. One technique they have found to combat dry soil is using biochar when planting new vines. The process involves ‘digging a large hole, back filling it with compost, adding some biochar on top of that, and finally adding some organic fertiliser pellets’.

Using this method, Owen has noticed that there is significant improvement in water retention in the soil for at least the first year of vine maturation, if not two. In the past they have made their own biochar on-site, however as their use of biochar increased, they have begun to source from a local not-for-profit called Ecoss. They are still exploring how best to apply the biochar, and have learnt that successful techniques will vary between areas and different soil types.

Young vine in a guard within a grassy vineyard alley

Lastly, Owen shares with us his experience of using sectormentor, and how it has supported Mac Forbes on their regenerative journey:

“It’s simplified data collection, which has been good. Previously we’re just putting numbers into a manual logging spreadsheet for a bunch of weights and pruning weights. And that spreadsheet kind of just sat there. We didn’t really look at it after.”

The team have found that the more data stored on the app, the clearer correlations are over time, therefore increasing the app’s usability. The team have now added their historic data to Sectormentor, allowing them to see the patterns of previous year’s harvest dates relative to the present season. Owen sees how the app will influence future management decisions to benefit the health of the vineyard:

“Sectormentor now impacts how we prune and how many buds we leave down. We have also been able to track weather changes on the vineyard in the last few years and how this affects production on the vineyard.”

Walking across rough pasture towards a newly planted vineyard

Through their observations and experimentation, Mac Forbes are an inspiring example of creative and progressive viticulture practice. Thank you to Owen and the team at Mac Forbes for talking to us about their journey with regenerative viticulture.

Get in touch with us on info@vidacycle.com if you want to learn more about Sectormentor, and how it might support with your operation – we’re always happy to chat!


Turn Your Observations Into a Stronger and Healthier Vineyard

Clear Yield Forecasts

Confident Harvest Plans

Credible Ecological Monitoring

See how Sectormentor works for you:

Small & Medium Vineyards Large Vineyard Vineyard Management Company
The Sectormentor yield predictor open on a laptop and phone
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