Vintner uses aloe vera to give grapes a spritz of sunscreen

Grapes that get too much sun face the same problems as humans. Tan today; wrinkle tomorrow.


Which is why winemaker Aaron Pott, taking a cue from sun worshippers, has started spraying his grapes with a compost "tea" that includes small amounts of aloe vera and yucca, known for their abilities to soothe over-sunned skin.

The result has been vines that came through the intense bursts of heat that hit California this summer largely unscathed, says Pott, winemaker at the Quintessa winery in the Napa Valley.

Quintessa also uses conventional forms of heat relief, such as managing the "canopy" - the way leaves are trained to grow, determining how much shade the grapes will get - and misting vines with cool water at critical times.

The compost teas are part of an approach known as biodynamics, a type of farming that bans use of artificial pesticides, herbicides and fertilizers, and promotes crop and wildlife diversity to curb pests.

The creator of biodynamics, Austrian philosopher Rudolph Steiner, didn't know much about California summers, but his work did give Pott and his colleagues the idea of working with drought-tolerant plants.

The theory is that if a plant is resistant to problems like drought or insects "there's something in that plant that causes that resistance. So you just take that, you make a tea out of it and spray it on whatever you want that you want to have that resistance, and you often get that very resistance because of some unknown quality in that plant," said Pott. "We're really just hitting the tip of the iceberg with these kind of treatments."

The vines aren't lathered up like a wrinkle-phobic lifeguard. Rather, Pott uses about two to three ounces of yucca per acre and about four to five ounces of aloe vera gel per acre, each mixed in with a compost spray. Because the spray is so diluted, by the time grapes are picked, there's no residue.

Pott isn't aware of anyone else giving grapes a spritz of sunscreen and other farming experts said it sounded like a first to them, too. So it's unknown whether the same methods can be applied to other sun-sensitive crops like tomatoes.

Still, growers have taken a number of steps to beat the heat, particularly with extra irrigation, said Dave Kranz, spokesman for the California Farm Bureau.

"Just as humans are encouraged to stay hydrated during warm weather, the same is true for plants," he said.

California saw hundreds of millions in farm losses during the summer heat spike, although the majority was livestock. The true extent of crop losses won't be known until harvest - for instance, you have to crack open a walnut to see if it's ruined.

Overall, it was a wild weather year, starting out with a mild winter, a cold and rainy spring and then a July heat wave.

The fluctuating weather created some headaches for vintners because vines shut down during the extreme heat, meaning they stopped growing for a while which delayed harvest.

Usually, the harvest for sparkling wine grapes - picked at lower sugar levels - starts in mid-August or even earlier. But this year, many sparkling wine producers waited until month's end.

"You're not going to stand by the vines with your arms crossed saying, Hurry up," said Craig Roemer, winemaker at Schramsberg, a Calistoga producer of high-end sparkling wines.

Roemer called the grape sunscreen idea novel, adding "if it works, kudos to them."

And he had something good to say about the quirky weather, too.

"If every year was the same, we'd be better off making wine on the computer," he said. "The fact that every year is different makes this that much more exciting."

Source: Examiner

Buy Hoodia Gordonii Diet Pills, Noni Juices and Aloe products at
http://www.hoodialatina.com

Buy aloe raw materials and finished products at
http://www.aloetrade.com.ar

Buy Aloe Products in Spain, Italy and Portugal at
http://www.dietahoodia.com