Matt alternates perennial “ley” rows with annual “spray” rows across the vineyard; the logic being that if machinery is going to compact a row every year, it’s better to limit that damage to only half the vineyard. 

The perennial rows have been built up over several years, now carrying around 12 species (chicory, plantain, sainfoin, wild carrot, yarrow, red and white clover, and more), with a goal of reaching 20. They chose these species to provide good forage for grazing and green manures to improve soil health in these rows. 

Matt manages the perennials by leaving them to grow tall to maximise deep rooting before being crimped, so the stand lays down but keeps growing and setting seed. Matt encourages this as it nurtures the seed bank in the soil and in turn saves him the cost of buying seed (Matt estimates that he saved £1500 this year!). Every couple of years, Matt adds in extra seeds when he crimps the rows down. 

In the annual rows, Matt likes to plant species that are high in nectar for biosecurity; these plants act as a sacrificial crop for the insects that would usually feed on vine sap (see organic pest management section below). These high-nectar species include sunflowers, borage, phacelia and more. 

Matt’s annual rows are considered the “heavy-traffic” rows, which he uses to spray the vines, spread compost, and subsoil (once a year). These rows remain for about 5-6 years, and once the cover crops in the perennial rows have “had enough”, the compost-loaded annual rows are ready to be rotated over and seeded into a perennial ley.

After trialling a small Italian crawler tractor (built for steep vineyard slopes) on Harrow & Hope’s flat but wet ground, Matt found it caused almost no compaction; even fully laden with a sprayer, it is very light on the soil (1.8 tonnes, 1.2 tonnes without the sprayer). The vineyard is now transitioning toward smaller, lighter tractors, on narrower rows, specifically to keep any compaction as far from the vine roots as possible. 

Here is the link for those who want to know more about the Geier crawler tractor.

Matt makes his own compost on-site, tailoring the mix block by block depending on each area’s needs. He sources most of the bulk material (straw cattle bedding) from a farm six miles away, and adds in vine prunings from on-site. He also uses wood chip, sourced from local tree surgeon businesses; any wood type is fine, Matt stresses that “if it’s woodchip, it’s organic matter” and he’ll have it.

1. Start with a high-carbon base.
Vines naturally grow on a woodland edge, so creating a woody, leaf-litter-heavy base is a great start to any vineyard compost mix; here Matt combines his straw bedding and vine prunings.

2. Inoculate with a “starter”. 
Matt keeps a perpetual, biologically active wood chip pile – used the same way you’d use a sourdough starter – adding a small portion, around 15 tonnes into a 150-tonne pile, to kick-start microbial activity.

3. Heat to sterilise, then re-inoculate.
Piles turned routinely and kept between 60–70°C to kill any disease spores carried in on pruning waste and grape marc, then re-inoculated with the starter mix once cooled. Matt also keeps an eye on it, and adds in green waste or animal manure if it needs more nitrogen. The full cycle takes around two years.

4. Apply little and often.
Matt spreads 10–15 tonnes per hectare with a compost spreader annually, depending on the area of the vineyard. This may not seem like much, but Matt’s strategy is to drip-feed nutrients to avoid shocking or overwhelming the vines, rows, or cover crops. The compost is spread over the whole vine row, rather than just around the vine, and only in the annual rows (the heavy-traffic rows).

In Matt’s first year, botrytis pressure was severe. The team trialled an old-school method of disease management by physically removing vines and material from the worst-affected area, as if they “were treating gangrene”. 

The next year was a very wet year and “botrytis central”, according to Matt. The vineyard still had some diseased areas, but not as much, with the cleanest area of the vineyard being the area that had been culled the previous year. 

At first, prunings were baled and removed. This was labour-intensive and much of the material ended up being burned. Then they began to chip the prunings with a local tree surgery contractor and take them over to Matt’s home farm down the road to use for cattle bedding. The wood chips then soak up manure and urine before eventually cycling back to the vineyard as compost two years later. 

Now, the team haven’t sprayed for botrytis in three years, and overwintering disease pressure (including powdery mildew) has dropped noticeably. Matt makes it clear that it costs more in labour, but the trade-off against crop loss from disease has been worth it.

When a sooty-mould-linked scale insect was spotted on the vineyard, instead of using insecticide, Matt opted to use sacrificial sap-heavy cover crops in their annual rows to draw sap-feeding insect pests away from the vines and into the rows. 

Regular monitoring since the first sighting has shown scale insect numbers dropping, which Matt puts down to a natural predator population building in response.

Matt has also been planting more trees and shrubs on-site to prevent a Spotted Wing Drosophila (SWD) problem; specifically, Matt has been planting pyracantha and bird cherry as ‘dead’ host plants for SWD eggs. This works because the berries contain a chemical/hormone that prevents the hatching of the eggs, so the populations remain low.

Matt’s approach to planting trees and hedgerows is guided by making sure that everything works within the existing trellising and machinery. 

In a wet, low vigour area of the site, Matt has planted hazel and willow (both can be used for coppicing and are trainable in the trellis), fig (chosen for its sprawling root system to help dry out waterlogged ground), and fruit trees (beneficial deep root systems and for vineyard worker’s snacks). He often replaces dead vines with trees, as long ad they’re easy to maintain among the vines. 

Matt’s long-term vision is to have a hedge every 40 metres down the vineyard, based on mycorrhizal root connectivity between trees (roughly 20 metres of horizontal reach each) and pollinator flight range. Hedge maintenance isn’t extra labour, as Matt maintains them at the same time he manages the vines.

Whether you’re trialling a new cover crop mix or transitioning rows to no-till, 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. 

For the last few years at Donum, Tony has been working on collecting data on how tilling choices alter soil health, vine performance, and taste profile of the wine itself. 

The estate began by trialing a three-acre block, split into three treatments: one acre of 100% no-till, one acre of minimal till, and one acre of conventional alternate-row tilling. To maintain continuity, all blocks shared identical rootstocks, clones, cover crops, and inputs. Despite harvesting the grapes at the same time and vinifying them under identical conditions, blind tastings showed that the wines differed in flavour profile. This confirmed to Tony that tillage methods were an influencing factor in wine taste and quality.

To explore these findings, Tony began a second, six-year trial on the opposite edge of the estate. This trial compared a minimally tilled block (spaded once a year) against a 100% no-till block. Partnering with Agrology, the team tracked carbon flux, soil respiration, vapor pressure deficit, canopy temperature, and soil humidity, alongside routine Haney soil analyses.

Following spading in the minimally tilled block, ground carbon peaked at nearly 10,000 ppm, a level too high for the vines to utilise, causing the excess carbon to escape into the atmosphere. The no-till block consistently remained under 900 ppm. At this level, the soil respires just enough carbon for the vines to photosynthesise efficiently, allowing them to pump that carbon back down into the soil via the liquid carbon pathway. 

These findings indicate a soil environment that has successfully transitioned from chemical dependence to a biology-driven system. In Tony’s words:

Donum’s location in Carneros, where heavy, shrink-swell clay soils are prone to compaction and anaerobic conditions, makes Tony’s findings even more compelling. Local farmers often claimed that no-till wasn’t possible in these soils, but this trial has proven otherwise.

When transitioning a vineyard or block to no-till, preparing your soils first will maximise its benefits!

When Tony first arrived at Donum, the vineyard soils were heavily compacted from decades of running a heavy disc at least three times a year. This practice created both surface compaction and a dense hardpan layer 12 to 24 inches below the surface.

To transition a compacted site successfully, Tony recommends these guidelines:

• Break compaction first.
  Run a deep tillage tool once through the rows to shatter the deep hardpan. It’s key that this tillage should be timed carefully however, as to prevent soil smearing or further structural damage.

• Introduce oxygen.
  Breaking up the hardpan reintroduces oxygen into the soil, encouraging fungi growth and healthier cover crop development. After preparing the soil and making the shift towards no-till, Tony has seen Donum’s soils shift from being bacteria-dominated to fungal-dominated!

• Think carefully about cover crops.
  This will be your ‘engine’ for going no-till, according to Tony. Read more on cover crops in the section below.

• Kick start soil biology with inoculants.
  Soil inoculants, like compost teas and microbial inoculants, will boost and restore biological activity that will maintain soil structure.

Across Donum’s five estate vineyards, cover crop design is guided by two principles: high biodiversity and continuous seasonal activity. Specific plant families are chosen for their functional traits, based on soil type. 

Due to Carneros’s heavy clay soils, the Donum team often opt to use grasses to add structure and send roots deep into the soil to support aeration and water drainage. Tony has found that oats crimp very well, making them a great fit for a no-till system. They also include legumes for nitrogen fixing.

Because it is impossible to predict exactly how a plant species will behave in a specific soil context, introducing new cover crops can pose ecological risks. Some varieties can become invasive or upset the natural balance of the vineyard. 

To avoid these risks, Tony advises:

1. Start small.
Always trial new seed mixes on a small scale first to assess plant behavior before committing to a vineyard-wide rollout.

2. Monitor long-term persistence.
The Donum team seeded vetch eight seasons ago, and the plant continues to return vigorously every year without reseeding. The estate also currently faces challenges with field marigold, an undervine crop that sprouts everywhere in spring. Because it lacks sugar content early in the season, grazing sheep don’t want to eat it, allowing it to out-compete young vines. 

3. Remember that every vineyard is a different story!
Different crop species can act invasively depending on context. Everything is vineyard-dependent, so starting small will not only ensure a natural, non-competitive balance between plant species and vines, but also help you learn which plants work better for your vineyard.

Donum makes its own compost and biological extracts entirely on-site. The composting program focuses heavily on supporting fungi, which serve as the primary decomposers of complex plant materials like lignin. 

The estate partners with local organic dairies in Sonoma County to source organic animal manure, which is combined with green manure to provide a balanced nitrogen source. To build a fungal-supportive environment, they incorporate carbon-rich, woody material. Raw wool is also mixed in, keeping the compost aerated.

When the compost piles require moisture, or when the vines need a biological boost, the team use home-brewed compost teas. 

Donum has two 500-gallon custom brewers, which can produce 1,000 gallons of compost tea within 24 hours. This tea acts as an inoculant, which has multiple uses: 

1. Directly through the vineyard irrigation lines
2. Applied as a foliar spray
3. Sprayed onto the soil surface
4. Used to water active compost piles
5. Used to charge biochar before application

Managing pests and disease in a certified organic, regenerative system requires a shift from an eradication mindset to an eco-system balance mindset. 

At Donum, Tony uses a dual-pronged approach to manage pests organically:

Tony uses the presence of native bird populations to defend against vineyard pests. On-site, there are healthy populations of kestrels, hawks, owls, western bluebirds, and swallows.

After assessing which species could be most beneficial to them on the vineyard, Tony found that mud-nesting swallows are very good at maintaining populations of leafhoppers, cane borer beetles, and caterpillars. This led Tony to develop a targeting approach to increase mud-nesting swallow populations on the vineyard; they are currently experimenting with building artificial eaves for the swallows to nest in. 

The trial eaves successfully stimulated local nesting activity, prompting the team to plant perennial native flora underneath the structures to further support the birds. If they continue to see positive results, these structures will become standard of all Donum’s future vineyard redevelopments.

Note: While beneficial birds are encouraged, grape-eating species are managed during ripening using bird netting to protect the fruit.

Rather than spraying on a schedule, Tony uses a proactive approach that combines spore tracking with biological rotations to preserve the native wine fermentations. This is his framework:

• Spore monitoring.
  By partnering with Root Applied Sciences and Scanit, the estate monitors ambient fungal spore loads to dictate exact spray intervals and choice of material.
• Shutting the sprayers down early.
  If spore counts show low levels of disease pressure, Tony shuts down the sprayers early in the season at around a 5-8 Brix reading. If an active powdery mildew infection is detected, spraying is extended up to a 15 Brix reading to protect the crop.
• No-sulfur use.
  Traditional late-season sulfur applications (post-bunch closure) are typically avoided at Donum. Residual late-season sulfur can drive native yeast fermentations into a reductive state in the cellar, compromising wine aroma and clean expression!
• Use biological rotations.
  To keep input costs manageable, early-season sprays utilise affordable oils and elemental sulfur. As the season progresses, the program rotates through commercial biologics (such as Regalia, Serenade, and AEA’s Pinion), making sure that at least two distinct biological modes of action are active on the canopy at any time. This is then supplemented with their home-brewed, fungal-dominant compost teas to build disease resistance.

Whether you’re trialling a new cover crop mix, adjusting your termination timing, or transitioning rows to no-till, 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. 

Regenerative agronomy focuses on building soil health, enhancing crop production, and increasing nutrient density, all through the lens of soil biology. This looks like:

• Combining advanced soil health & sap testing with regenerative practices; and importantly, balancing the two.

• The lab tests used in regenerative agronomy are different; they focus on how well the soil biology is functioning alongside the physics and chemistry of the soil. You might use the Haney Test, or the Phospholipid Fatty Acid (PLFA) Test, which look at soil chemistry through the lens of functioning soil biology, as opposed to water soluble soil tests. 

• Fixing agronomic challenges with nature-based, biology-focused solutions to support soil health (e.g. on-farm compost teas, cover crops etc).

• Using data tracking software, like Sectormentor, to analyse trends and see what is working for your context.

Chuck reframes cover crops as ‘eco-crops’, meaning “a tool to enhance the ecosystem, and the ecosystem functions”. Chuck invites us to see them as an investment into your soil. 

Chuck’s advice for implementing cover crops: 

1. Maximise photosynthesis.
The core purpose of a cover crop is to maximise photosynthesis. The more a plant photosynthesises, the more carbon and organic compounds (sugars, carbohydrates, organic acids) it pumps into the soil, feeding the biology below.

2. Don’t terminate your cover crop at bud break.
A common practice in vineyards 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. From Chuck’s experience, he 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. 

3. When to terminate cover crops.
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.

4. Understand and practice nutrient cycling.
When you do come to terminate your cover crop, Chuck 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. 

The middle of the row in a vineyard is pedestrianised and often quite compacted; years of foot traffic and machinery can suffocate the soil biology. If you stop tilling one day without undoing some of the compaction between vine rows, then you won’t unlock the soil biology needed to maintain no-till and benefit the vines; this can actually lead to yield drops.

This is why, according to Chuck, soils respond very well to tillage; because oxygen is being reintroduced to the soil, boosting biological activity. When you have well aggregated and healthy soils and then practice no-till, you’ll likely see the same benefits as tilling. 

Chuck’s recommendations for transitioning into no-till: 

1. Ironically, tilling before no-till can be very beneficial.
Chuck says that a good way to begin your no-till journey might be to plant a cover crop which you eventually till into the soil as a green manure. This can kick-start the biological system into gear, preparing it well for no-till.

2. Understand your soil type.
If you have sandy-loam soil, your soil will be able to transition to no-till far easier than a soil that is heavy-clay for instance.

3. Manage the transition with vine nutritional supplementation.
While the soil biology is recovering, supplementing the vines will help to avoid drops in yield and vigour. Chuck recommends bridging that gap with high-quality, organic, carbon-based inputs; humic and fulvic acids, biostimulants, hydrolysates, compost, and chelated nutrients (see section below for information on foliar nutrition). These additions are “powerful tools to heal the soil around the root system”. Chuck also recommends adding a layer of half decomposed woodchip to the soil; this feeds the soil fungal network (and does not eat up all the nitrogen as you might have thought).

4. Alternate tilled and no-till rows.
This is a simple way to ease into no-till, with a lower risk of losing yield.

Whether you’re trialling a new cover crop mix, adjusting your termination timing, or transitioning rows to no-till, 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. 

• Bridging the gap between data and context.
  A soil moisture probe might indicate a specific block is oversaturated. A purely data-driven response would be to cut irrigation. However, a consultant with site-specific history, what Mireia calls the ‘widest part of the context’, might know that the probe is located where an old oak tree was removed a decade ago, creating a unique pocket of soil density. At Enterprise Vineyards, data is used to spark conversations with the field crew, not to replace observation. By presenting data to experienced staff, Enterprise can validate technical readings against the site’s historical reality. This communication is vital when managing diverse client portfolios.

• Embrace systems thinking.
  Mireia emphasizes that for a consultant, a single visual indicator can be misleading without a systems-thinking approach. When a scout sees red leaves, the instinct is to test for virus or nutritional deficiency. However, Enterprise Vineyards trains their team to look at the environment first. Is this a windy site? In some blocks, wind can cause mechanical damage to the shoots, leading to ‘red leaves’ that have nothing to do with disease. By evaluating the wider context, they avoid recommending expensive and unnecessary interventions to their clients.

• Be patient.
  Different vineyards will take different lengths of time to recover and regenerate; for a vineyard that has been farmed conventionally with lots of artificial inputs, it could be 3 years before anything is able to grow in these soils – but this doesn’t mean you are on the wrong path! Ultimately, Mireia affirms that you can recover any vineyard, but allow time for the ecosystem to rebalance itself. 
  

Top Tip: Connecting with the local community around a vineyard can be a really helpful tool for vineyard management; you get to see sites around you and combine knowledge of local soil and biodiversity. Building this network of knowledge, and sharing your own challenges and successes as a vineyard, can be fundamental to mutual regeneration. 

• Phenological data.
  The Enterprise team measure bud break, flowering, veraison, and harvest. This phenological data helps them to understand how long it will take for the grapes to ripen this year, based on historical data from previous years. These dates also show how productive the vineyard is this year compared to other years. Learn how the Sectormentor Phenology Report can provide this framework for you.

• Pruning weights.
  Enterprise like to track how much biomass the vines are producing and compare it to previous years; this gives the team insight into how healthy and productive the vines are and how much water the vines will need in the following year. Tracking pruning weights over time also highlights trends in vigour, enabling the team to take action if vigour is declining. Explore how Sectormentor’s Vine Health Indicator uses pruning weights to visualise vine health across blocks.

• Soil moisture and temperature probes.
  The team monitors soil temperature, particularly at the beginning of the year, to estimate when the vines are beginning to wake up. They try to push pruning as far back as possible to reduce the risk of a frost hindering vine growth. If they are seeing that the soils are starting to warm up, they know they need to get on with the pruning process, before the plant wakes up.

• Weather stations.
  Enterprise have weather stations in almost every vineyard, and they use them constantly for tracking humidity and temperature. They use this data to keep an eye on pest pressure, especially powdery mildew, and to determine when to prune (by looking at when other heat or frost events occurred).

• Soil health metrics.
  The Enterprise team use earthworm counts to track how well the soil system is functioning; the higher the earthworm count, the better! They also track % of soil organic matter (SOM) on their sites, another great indicator of soil health. To track the benefits of their different cover cropping mixes specifically, the team routinely check rooting depth, rhizosheath coverage, and nodulation of legumes (and colour of nodules) block by block. If you are looking to start tracking soil health metrics, Sectormentor’s Regen Indicators can provide an intuitive framework for your vineyard team!

1. Embrace an open mindset.
The first conversations are all about mindset, that’s where it all begins – let go of your vision of what a vineyard should look like.

2. Biodiversity is key.
You want your vineyard to have as many plant and animal species as possible; insects, birds, plants, trees, and more.

3. Familiarise yourself with the historical farming practices of the site.
If inputs, fungicides and herbicides have been used, move the vineyard away from them. Providing other avenues now becomes an important part of the conversation between vineyard consultant and the vineyard team.

4. Establish the vineyard’s soil baseline and embed a data-driven approach.
On every visit to the site you want to be out in the blocks with your spade. Establish a data-driven style of farming and learn as much as you can about the soil context; you need to know what you’re working with. Without this baseline, you can be doing things on the vineyard, such as planting cover crop mixes, only to find out that what you’re doing is actually incompatible with the context you have. Learn more about how Sectormentor can help you to establish a soil baseline.

1. Develop a soil sampling mindset.
Begin by sampling non-cropped, untouched areas of the property to figure out the soil’s potential. Jordan called this a vineyard’s ‘north star’. This location could be at the edge of some woodlands, or at least where you know a tractor hasn’t been before; the location must be a natural setting with no human influence. This ‘north star’ is very important, it can tell you everything you need to know about the soil capabilities within your specific context. Interestingly, from Jordan’s experience, you can improve upon a land’s health even beyond your ‘north star’ from within the farm setting. Learn more about how Sectormentor can help you to establish a soil baseline.

2. Do everything you can to maximise biodiversity on every part of the vineyard.
Jordan recommends very diverse cover crop mixes and creating perennial habitats for insects to be protected and thrive.

3. There is a place for foliars and experimenting with inputs.
The soil at Tablas Creek was healthy and full of nutrients, but there were still times where the vines were struggling; this left Jordan wondering where the missing link was. He was very set on the idea of achieving a ‘closed loop system’, but he failed to see that vines don’t naturally have a symbiotic partnership with the types of soil fungi that exist ‘naturally’ in Californian soils as they are not native themselves. This is when Jordan realised that they needed to bring products on-site to boost the vines’ relationship with the biology in the soil; bringing organic foliars (particularly AEA products) into the system has been a game-changer for Jordan! 

Top tip: Jordan’s advice is to always be open-minded to learning more about your soil system – the learning never stops!

1. Know your soil first.
Jordan advises that you need to build a thorough understanding of how your soil is working before implementing regenerative techniques such as animal grazing or no-till. See these techniques as end goals, with a number steps to be taken beforehand. 

2. Think carefully about carrying capacity and grazing times.
These two factors are very important when learning how to implement grazing; Jordan was consulting at a vineyard that decided to implement sheep grazing and brought 300 sheep on-site without a plan to graze rotationally. On Jordan’s next visit, a few days later, he found it very difficult to get his spade into the ground due to the soil compaction caused by the animals grazing in one area for too long. The worms and soil macrobiology had also been pushed into the top inch of soil due to the need for oxygen. When testing the paddock next door, which hadn’t been grazed yet, Jordan easily slid the spade into the ground, and saw all the indicators of a healthy soil profile. Jordan’s lesson from this experience was how quickly things can go wrong when decisions aren’t based on your soil data. 

Will inherited a vineyard site with young vines that had been chemically managed with high doses of inputs like urea, herbicides, and foliar feeds to maximise cropping from the get-go. This resulted in oversized vines that were very high yielding, but also so vigorous that they needed constant trimming!

• Will’s priority was to reduce vigour. He immediately stopped using synthetic fertilisers and foliars and instead moved to either no fertilisers, or organic fertilisers that are generally much lower in nitrogen than their conventional counterparts. As a result he halved the chemical bill in the first year, and further reduced it again in the second year to a third of what it was.
• During the conversion, Will tracked that the vines’ vigour dropped by about 20% which means the vines will be healthier in the long term and grape quality is very good with yields ample for a profitable vineyard.
• The main difference 4 years on between his organic and regenerative vines is that he still uses synthetic fungicides in his non-organic vines. 
• Will acknowledges that undervine management without herbicides is a major time commitment currently, this is something he wants to further investigate for future seasons.

Will emphasises that organic and regenerative viticulture work around the core principle of having a balanced vine. He says that most vineyards in the UK are too vigorous due to our fertile soils and  management.

• Will shares that balanced vines are more resistant to disease; in 2021, the conventional vineyard next door sprayed with synthetics and had much worse botrytis than Will’s unsprayed organic vines. He believes the conventional vines were just too leafy and green, the vines were out of balance and the soft leaves had no way of defending themselves against botrytis.
• To get quality grapes and therefore great wine that sells you need a balanced vine. If vines are too vigorous the grapes don’t ripen as well or if not vigorous enough won’t have enough energy to grow the grapes and get lots of small berries. Steady or slightly increasing pruning weights help Will to know when the vine is in balance.
• With good canopy management Will and his team are generally able to keep powdery mildew, downey mildew and botrytis under control. They also spray regularly with Sulphur and then use potassium bicarbonate, Botector and copper for any outbreaks.

Will stresses that tracking and monitoring his vines is a hugely important part of his vineyard management, and is something he prioritises for keeping the business profitable. This prevents “just chucking money at things” across all vineyard blocks. 

• The Davenport team tracks vine vigour by monitoring the prunings weights as measure of soil fertility and vigour. This data is visualised in Sectormentor and allows the team to be targeted with inputs, like organic fertiliser, applying only to areas that specifically need them.
• Will discusses the importance of knowing where disease often starts and constantly checking those vines. Acting quickly is vital to prevent serious damage if disease does arise.
• Check weather forecasts regularly and know when you are at higher risk from disease. He gives the example of Downey Mildew only setting in if you have over 10mm rain overnight and a temperature above 10 degrees.