Diversity is the key to success at Matthiasson Family Vineyards. They grow wine grapes across the Napa-Sonoma region, with a diversity of plants at each site–both of grape vines and of native habitat. Having variety in the farmscape allows them to make different kinds of wine and also to tailor their management to the specific site.
“One of the cool things about Napa Valley is that you have all these different soils and different microclimates,” says Steve Matthiason, farmer and winemaker with Matthiasson Family Vineyards. “And so you have a lot of variety with grapes and wine and also with what we need to do to take care of them organically–because the nutrients are totally different. Water holding capacity, the weed populations, everything's totally different site by site.”
The diversity is also risk protection. If they get a fire, smoke damage or some kind of pest outbreak in one location, it doesn’t affect their whole operation. “We always have something doing well, hopefully most of it, but always something.”
"We tuck habitat all around the vineyard, anywhere we have a little bit of empty space."
To manage pests, they rely heavily on beneficial insects. To support these natural enemies, they incorporate habitat anywhere they can. “What we do is we tuck habitat all around the vineyard, anywhere we have a little bit of empty space basically,” says Steve. “So along a fence line or between a driveway and a fence, behind a building or next to a parking area. Anywhere we have a little bit of land, that's a spot to put in some habitat plants.
One of Steve’s favorite species to use is Coyote Brush (Baccharis pilularis). It's an overwintering habitat for Anagrus, the parasitioid wasp that helps to manage pest leafhoppers. Anagrus needs to overwinter on an alternative host insect and the Coyote Brush is a great site for supporting those hosts.
“We're trying to create a functional ecosystem that sort of takes care of itself so that we don't even notice the pests and don't have to think about the pests. To have the whole place in balance, that's the overall goal.”
Learn more about the diversity at Matthiason Family Vineyards and hear from researcher Houston Wilson about leafhopper biocontrol in the video below: