Vineyards Get Sheepish

Filed in archive Vineyards on October 2, 2006

There is a lot of similarity between regular farm work, like growing hay, and vineyards where you grow grapes. Both require a lot of up keep and manual labor. Now, some grape growers are learning a thing or two from old farming techniques when it comes to keeping down the weeds.

From The Chicago Tribune: Grape grower Steve Pepe has a new crew of weed whackers who lack Social Security numbers, couldn't care less about health insurance and never will ask for a raise.

Henley, Matilda and Althea are Babydolls, miniature sheep that top off at 2 feet. What they lack in stature, they make up for in promise. If they work out, Pepe would be able to avoid farm chemicals, slash weeding bills and improve his soil.

The sheep have voracious appetites for weeds, but they aren't quite tall enough to reach fruit on trellised grape vines. Looking like muddy cottonballs as they forage on Pepe's Santa Rita Hills farm, the sheep feel like a damp, dirty sweater.

Pepe watches how Matilda and her co-workers mow away clump after clump of nettlesome weeds. They seem to digest them almost instantly, producing healthier vines with their natural fertilizers.

That means more flinty Chardonnays and Pinot Noirs with hints of cedar and black cherries for customers who are increasingly demanding organic wines.

Perhaps, Pepe muses, the sheep will be the secret ingredient that brings his prized Clos Pepe Pinot Noir, which retails for $40 a bottle, more gold medals. California has been known for revolutionizing the wine world with innovations such as harvesting grapes at night and using stainless-steel tanks for fermentation.

Vintners--including Clos Pepe in Santa Barbara County, Puma Springs Vineyard in Sonoma County and Navarro Vineyards in Mendocino County--are embracing the latest new idea: toy-size sheep.