Grape growers operate wildlife-friendly vineyard

A family of bobcats has taken up residence in the hedgerow on the outskirts of Stephen Storrs and Pamela Bianchini-Storrs' pinot noir and chardonnay vineyard in the Corralitos hills outside Watsonville.

At night, these wild cats leave their home hidden in the black sage, oaks, coffee berry and toyon plants and sneak into the nearby vineyard to hunt down rodents that would otherwise threaten the crop.

"This is one of the benefits of the hedgerow that we've seen," said Stephen Storrs, who makes it a priority to preserve the wildlife near his vineyard. "The bobcats go out into the vineyard and eat gophers."

Stephen and Pamela both went to the University of California, Davis, he in viticulture and she in enology, and worked at Domaine Chandon, Felton-Empire Vineyards and Almaden before they started crushing local grapes in their own small winery in Santa Cruz.

They worked and saved for the day they could own their own vineyard in their favored winegrape location, the Santa Cruz Mountains.

"It took us 15 years to buy this 60-acre place from a family that wanted to sell to someone who would keep it in farming," Pamela Bianchini-Storrs said. "You see all these mega-million-dollar wineries and they are really beautiful. We had to start small in a building in the old Sash Mill in Santa Cruz."

The Storrs talked about their vision of a vineyard and winery that is not only organic but also makes room for wildlife, as 150 participants in the 28th Annual EcoFarm Bus Tour walked the farm.

"We were committed to creating a vineyard that worked with wildlife," Storrs said. "We set our fences back to protect just the vines, but leave a wildlife corridor. Before, we would see vineyards with fences right up to the road, and you would see dead deer in the road. Since we created the corridor, we haven't seen a dead deer in the road."

The bobcats make their home on the edge of a wildlife corridor that follows an old migration route for the deer that is 100 to 300 feet wide.

The Storrs said they plan to build a 1.5-acre demonstration vineyard next to their new winery and tasting room.

"While we have them here for the wine, we want them to stay and hear a little bit about what matters to us," Bianchini-Storrs said.

During their 15 years on the property, the Storrs have painstakingly developed practices to make their winegrape production work in concert with surrounding nature.

"Pamela and Steve have a very elaborate conservation plan we have been working on with them," said Rich Casale, district conservationist with the U.S. Department of Agriculture Natural Resources Conservation Service. "It includes water harvesting, the drip irrigation system, pest management, wildlife management, erosion control. It goes on and on, with no stone unturned."

Casale has worked with the Storrs on more than two-dozen different conservation projects since they acquired the land for their Corralitos vineyard.

The native perennials where the bobcats live were put in with the help of veteran farm-edge habitat specialist Sam Earnshaw, who has worked with growers on the installation of more than 400 miles of hedgerows.

"Hedgerows provide windbreaks, control dust, crowd out weeds and attract beneficials and pollinators," Earnshaw said. "Every hedgerow is unique. We use California natives, but one thing we don't use near vineyards is ceanothus, which can harbor Eutypa."

When Earnshaw worked with the Storrs on their hedgerow, a group of students from nearby Renaissance High School came out to help with the planting.

Most of the grapes a few yards from the hedgerow are in the vertical shoot position and cordon trained, because it helps to manage disease.

"The idea is, you open up the canopy to get a lot of sun. It helps control the mildew, and makes it easier to apply the fungicides," Storrs said. "Grapes are very susceptible to powdery mildew. It spreads like wildfire when the temperature is in the 70s. You want to eradicate it, so we use stylet oil."

Many grape growers, both conventional and organic, use stylet oil as a low-impact material for managing mildew.

"The oil smothers the powdery mildew spores to prevent them from growing," said Amigo Cantisano, an organic crop advisor who led the EcoFarm Tour. "You don't want to use stylet oil when it's hot, or it will hurt the plant."

The Storrs build their soil by planting between the rows a cover crop mix of barley and bell beans that reduces erosion and adds both organic matter and nitrogen to the ground.

Light grazing by sheep also helps to control weeds and add nutrients to the vineyard soil.

The Storrs have developed a pruning schedule designed to give them early season control over vine vigor.

"We've moved to two-tier pruning. We'll go through and give them a quick haircut, and then come back over the next two months. It slows the vine down to leave the buds on," Storrs said.

Recent years of dry, warm weather have made it even more challenging to manage the pace of vineyard growth.

"One of our main goals is to capture all of our water and keep it on the property," Storrs said, adding that the vineyard uses an elaborate system of gutters, water tanks and retention ponds to do so.

To make wildlife preservation pencil out, the Storrs have to crush premium rather than commodity wines.

They have chosen two chardonnay and five pinot noir clones to be carefully blended into their estate wines.

"A lot of clones are good as blenders, but not by themselves. You blend them to get the complexity," Storrs said. "If we can produce $30 bottles of wine out of this, we can make it work."

(Bob Johnson is a reporter in Santa Cruz. He may be contacted at bjohn11135@aol.com.)