News & Events   Spring 2001 Newsletter General Winery News Special Report Uncorked! Phelps Preferred New Releases Awards and Reviews
	Uncorked: Update on the Glassy-Winged Sharpshooter The early morning cacophony of weed-wackers, tractors and wind machines are reliable indicators of the return of spring. Judging from the intensity of early blooming plants and the push of vines into warm afternoons, I can report a beautiful, and thus far trouble-free beginning to the 2001 growing season. At this point in the season, frost and damaging, late spring rains head the list of natural challenges, but this year vintners are particularly concerned over the northerly migration of the glassy-winged sharpshooter, an insect that carries a virus that is deadly to grape vines. Xylella Fastidiosa is the Latin name for the bacteria that causes Pierce's Disease. The traditional vector for PD in Napa County is a miniscule and relatively inefficient insect named the blue-green sharpshooter. In comparison to its blue-green cousin, the larger glassy-winged sharpshooter has been described as a B-52 bomber capable of reaching every grape vine in Napa Valley. Unfortunately, there are no known cures for Pierce's Disease and while research toward a remedy continues, there remains an urgent need to interdict the glassy-winged sharpshooter and prevent its migration beyond current points of infestation. Typically, glassy-winged sharpshooters migrate via importation of ornamental host plants from infested areas. Consequently, the inspection and treatment of plants prior to export is the best available preventative measure. Inspection, however, is costly, and two new bills before the California state legislature would mandate industry funding. The first bill would create a $3.00 per thousand dollar "gate tax" on all grapes grown in California. Paid by growers, this tax would be administered by a board of directors appointed by California Secretary of Agriculture, Bill Lyons. This bill is expected to raise approximately 5 million dollars per year and will be in addition to significant state and federal funding, which exceeds 40 million dollars in the current fiscal year. Napa County, be-cause of its relatively high concentration of vineyard land and historically high incidence of Xylella Fastidiosa along riparian corridors, has initiated a work plan that goes beyond state requirements and calls for the inspection of all green plant material entering the county. The cost of this work plan requires additional funding provided for under a district bill currently before the legislature. The Napa County bill would expand upon current legislation related to phylloxera replants and calls for a $20.00 per acre assessment on all vineyard land. Joseph Phelps Vineyards supports passage of both measures. Pierce's Disease destroyed the grape growing industry in Anaheim at the turn of the century and has severely threatened the viability of Temecula today. The introduction of the glassy-winged sharpshooter to Napa Valley would be a disaster that none wish to contemplate. Interdiction through inspection is costly, but necessary. Fortunately, leaders of environmental and grape growing organizations are united through the knowledge that preventative measures are far more desirable than the only current means of eradication, which involves spraying. Grape growers in Napa County are committed to environmentally sensitive farming practices including sustainable, organic and biodynamic approaches. I can think of no better remedy than the age-old adage that "an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure." Proposed California Coast Appellation Potentially Misleading to Consumers Historically, American wine produced and marketed to compete on the strength of brand quality is a recent phenomenon. We can loosely date the expansion of brand-focused wines from Napa Valley to the mid-sixties with the advent of the Robert Mondavi winery. During these early years the relationship between regional wine style and vineyard habitat (the French would call it "terroir") was neither fully explored nor clearly understood. Consequently, wine producers relied upon varietal composition to differentiate their products. For the American consumer, the name of the grape was more important than where it was grown, unlike the European model which emphasizes the growing region over the grape variety. As wine industry knowledge and experience evolved, reliance upon varietal composition as a determinant of quality became less and less satisfying. Increasingly, the association of wine style with specific growing regions became a critical point of differentiation for wine producers and consumers. The American model began to evolve along traditional European lines and AVAs (American Viticultural Areas) gained marketing significance. In Napa Valley, producers came to rely upon smaller AVAs such as the Stags Leap District, Rutherford and Oakville in conjunction with the Napa Valley AVA. The current AVA system is less evolved than its European counterparts, but authenticity within the system has been progressive. Already, vintners and consumers have discovered value in the difference between wine styles that our nascent AVA system is attempting to provide. Consequently, there is a real danger in AVA proposals or petitions that devalue the AVA system by subrogating geographic authenticity to values that are purely market driven. The application for a California Coast viticultural area, which is currently before the BATF, is one example of a potential setback for the AVA system. If approved, the California Coast designation would combine the North Coast, Central Coast and South Coast designations into a mega-appellation stretching from Mendocino County to the Mexican border. This new AVA would reach up to 50 miles inland and incorporate more than 14 million acres of land over a stretch of 22,000 square miles. The proposed California Coast designation is simply too broadly defined and encompasses too many diverse terroirs to recommend it as a significant AVA. Aside from the obvious objections related to scope, a California Coast AVA would also devalue the significance of the "estate-bottled" designation. Under current rules a wine must be grown, produced and bottled within a single AVA to qualify as estate bottled. Such a narrowly defined intent would surely be misunderstood by consumers when a wine, under the California Coast petition, could be grown in Temecula, bottled in Mendocino and still qualify as an "estate bottled" product. A proposal very similar to the California Coast failed in 1997 and the current petition deserves the same fate. Back to Top Next News Story
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