The Fall 2006 issue of our newsletter began a two-part story on Van Duzer’s adoption of cutting edge mapping and farming technology in order to produce better wine.

For Van Duzer’s viticulturist Norbert Fiebig, the goal is simple: “A more uniform vineyard, where everything arrives at the same stage at the same time.” This drive for consistent ripeness and quality across the vineyard has led Van Duzer to be one of the first practitioners of satellite-aided precision viticulture in the U. S.

Inputs are tailored to needs of blocks. Over a five year period, Fiebig has steadily moved Van Duzer toward a Global Position System (GPS) farming system that can instantly pinpoint information for any given location in the vineyard within a one-meter range. The same satellites that beam radio signals for navigation are employed by Van Duzer to plot soil inputs, farming methods and results row by row. Compared to the one-size-fits-all management of a vineyard, the precision of the process enables a drastic reduction in soil inputs such as fertilizer and water and an increased reliance on non-chemical approaches to vineyard health.

Space age imaging records plant vigor. Van Duzer is among the first to take advantage of aerial multi-spectrum imaging available in Oregon this year for the first time. Short-wave infrared cameras produce high resolution images measuring the chlorophyll content of leaves, a key indicator of vine vigor and stress. Geo-referenced data files of the images feed into Van Duzer’s management software to pinpoint areas requiring attention. On-the-ground observations corroborate the aerial readings. Dr. Melissa Staid, co-founder of VineView Imaging, producers of the images, stated, “Van Duzer’s use of scientific aerial imaging to directly determine variable-rate inputs places them on the cutting edge of vineyard management technology. and their integration of georeferenced imaging data for precision farming is more sophisticated than most users of this information.”

Farming adjusted to achieve uniformity. The Homestead Block is one vineyard “laboratory” beginning to benefit from the precise reading of plant energy (see photo). Vines in the north end, have excessive vigor. Fiebig controls this tendency by leaving extra fruiting canes to grow on the vine until May to disperse some of the vigor and by heavily seeding a cover crop to absorb excess ground moisture. Conversely, in the south end of the Homestead Block, where vines show less vigor, pruning is heavier and the cover crop is seeded lighter and plowed under earlier to prevent unproductive competition for ground moisture.

Information loop links mapping and farming decisions. The vineyard manager and winemaker analyze the aerial images along with accumulated information on past growing seasons then select appropriate farming methods to increase uniformity. This information is fed into tractors outfitted with onboard computers that customize applications to the vineyard according to location among the vineyard rows. Later, the impact on maturity at harvest and the final wine are evaluated and adjustments made to farming practices for the next growing season and beyond based upon the accumulated information.