Comments on: Wine quality, organic viticulture and vine systemic acquired resistance to pests.

By: Can 100% Organic Grapes be Produced in Long Island? (part I of a series) « Wine, Seriously

Mon, 07 Jun 2010 17:12:13 +0000

[...] Lotter, Don, Ph.D. “Wine quality, organic viticulture and vine systemic acquired resistance to pests,” Organic Wine Journal, 11 November 2008, at http://www.organicwinejournal.com/index.php/2008/11/wine-quality-organic-viticulture-and-vine-system... [...]

By: Don Lotter

Don Lotter — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 18:04:58 +0000

Clementine – I have wondered about the copper issue myself, for years. I can’t answer your question right now, but it brings up another question for me. When I was doing my dissertation research on phylloxera infestations of organic vs. conventional vineyards (Calif. organic vineyards resisted phylloxera-related root rot better), I wondered about the old French vineyard soils, with literally centuries (well, perhaps two) of copper applications. I could not find any research on the accumulation of copper in those soils. Certainly copper build-up would affect the soil microbial community, and therefore vine root health. It is the beneficial fungi and other microbes that allow the root to resist the pathogenic fungi that infect the phylloxera wound sites.

Do you know of any research on the copper accumulation issue in French vineyard soils

Don Lotter
Davis, CA
don@donlotter.net (please email me a copy of any post, thanks)

By: Clementine

Clementine — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 16:32:19 +0000

Incredibly interesting article, thank you. I was wondering if you had any thoughts on the copper problem in biodynamic viticulture? I’ve been entering into a debate about how much copper sulphate per hectare is acceptable, both for the human body and for the ecosystem. It seems that levels up 6kg per hectare are acceptable to maintain biodynamic certification, but some winemakers are saying this is too high and I have yet to find any serious research on the issue, your thoughts would be really appreciated.

By: Jacqueline Church

Jacqueline Church — Sat, 27 Dec 2008 00:12:40 +0000

Hello – Thank you for this excellent article. I cited you in a piece I wrote and thought you’d be interested to see – it just went up and is already getting noticed!

Cheers,
Jacqueline Church
The Leather District Gourmet