Sectormentor

Vineyards are complex living systems. However, regenerative viticulture becomes more manageable when you work in a simple cycle: observe, reflect, respond 🍇 Over time, this builds resilience and steadies yields, creating stronger, healthier vineyards. But regenerative viticulture is a learning curve, so we just opened enrollment for a free email course: Regenerative Viticulture, Simplified 🌱 In 7 short lessons, over 7 days, you can build a routine that helps you: • See change clearly across the season • Know what to focus on • Make harvest decisions with more clarity • Recover faster from weather and stress events • Set next season’s priorities with confidence • Each email takes about five minutes and the lesson gives you one practical action to apply straight away Sign up via the link in bio 🔗 If you have any questions for the team, feel free to email us at [email protected].

We have exciting news! Following the end of our third Regenerative Viticulture Series, we have released a Regen Viticulture Hub on our website! This hub is a resource for those who want to learn about all things regenerative viticulture. It is a compilation of all of our Regenerative Viticulture Series webinars to date; here you can find a library of expert advice from progressive practitioners all over the world on how to transition to more regenerative viticulture techniques. This is cutting edge information and a unique resource, so please check it out and share far and wide in your communities. The Regen Viticulture Hub is live on our website now! You can take a look through clicking on the link in our bio.

Mireia from Enterprise Vineyards (@enterprisevineyards ) on the importance of zooming out to see the bigger picture before jumping into action... Head to the link in bio to learn how to scale regenerative viticulture, with guidance from leading practitioners and experts 🔗

How do you manage pests on a Regenerative Organic Certified vineyard? 🐞 How do you keep dry-farmed ancient vines vigorous and thriving? 🌿 We have a new episode of the Regenerative Viticulture Series coming up which answers these questions, with Jake Neustadt (@j_neustadt ) from Bedrock Wine Co (@bedrockwines ) 🍇 Since joining Bedrock Wine Co in 2016, Jake has served as Director of Viticulture, building a program that manages thirteen vineyards across Sonoma, Napa, Contra Costa, and Lodi counties. Bedrock is both Certified Organic and Regenerative Organic Certified (ROC). His work combines organic and dry farming traditions with emerging regenerative agriculture practices — all on some of California’s most ancient vineyards.  Jake’s deepest commitment is to steward and rejuvenate these irreplaceable and historic vineyards, ensuring they can be appreciated for at least another century to come.  In this episode, Abby and Jake will cover: • How to manage pests on the vineyard without synthetic inputs • What it takes to dry farm vines over a century old • Jake’s experience tailoring cover crops to different sites and blocks • Supplementing ancient farming methods with data analysis and modern technology Sign up via the link in bio 🔗

🌱 What if weeds aren't weeds? Jordan Lonborg on biodiversity in vineyards! 🍇 #Biomimicry #RegenerativeViticulture Head to the link in bio to watch the full episode with Jordan 🔗

Photos of the week: Earthworm edition 🪱 These photos were spotted on the Gusbourne (@gusbourne_wine ) Sectormentor account this week. They’ve been recording earthworm counts in the vineyard, finding up to 58 in one spadeful of soil - incredible! Earthworm counts help you keep a pulse on biological life in the soil, large and small, with more earthworms indicating improved soil health 🪏 Late spring is the perfect time to head out into the vineyard to do earthworm counting, so grab a spade get out there! If you’re keen to learn more about soil testing on the vineyard, sign up to our free 7-day Regenerative Viticulture Course 📚 link in bio.

Grazing gone wrong! Head to the link in bio to find out how to avoid sheep compacted soils 🐑💥 #RegenFarming #SheepGrazing

Victoria from the Sectormentor team has been in California sharing about Sectormentor, visiting customers and celebrating the One Block Challenge! 🍇🎉 We went to Sonoma’s first #OneBlockChallenge field day, pioneered by The Regenerative Viticulture Foundation (@regenerativeviticulture ) and hosted by Tony Chapman and The Donum Estate (@donumestate )! There we zoomed in on soil health, looking into simple visual soil assessments growers can do to examine soil compaction, microdiversity, aggregate stability, and earthworm counts 🪱🪣💧 We also enjoyed attending the other #OneBlockChallenge field day in Napa, hosted by Crocker & Starr Wines (@crockerstarr ) & Napa Green (@napagreen ). Thank you all for such an inspiring week of digging deeper into vineyard soils 💚 📷️ Donum Estate, The Regenerative Viticulture Foundation, and Napa Green For all growers currently transitioning to regen, sign up to our free 7-day regenerative viticulture course to learn more - link in bio 🔗

💡This might surprise you but… Soils actually respond very well to tillage in certain scenarios 🚜 According to Chuck Schembre, Regenerative Agronomist & Soil Scientist, tillage reintroduces oxygen into compacted soils, boosting biological activity. If you already have healthy and well aggregated soils and decide to go no-till, you’ll likely see the same benefits of tilling (with long-term results). If however, your soils are compacted and you decide to go no-till, you won’t unlock the soil biology needed to maintain no-till and benefit your crops or vines; this can actually lead to yield decreases 🍇👇 Chucks top advice for transitioning to no-till: 1. Ironically, tilling before no-till can be very beneficial 🪱 Chuck says that a good way to begin your no-till journey might be to plant a cover crop which you eventually till into the soil as a green manure. This can kick-start the biological system into gear, preparing it well for no-till. 2. Understand your soil type 🪏 If you have sandy-loam soil, your soil will be able to transition to no-till far easier than a soil that is heavy-clay for instance. 3. Manage the transition with vine nutritional supplementation 🪵🍄 While the soil biology is recovering, supplementing your vines or crops will help to avoid drops in yield and vigour. Chuck recommends bridging that gap with high-quality, organic, carbon-based inputs. 4. Alternate tilled and no-till rows ↪️ This is a simple way to ease into no-till, with a lower risk of losing yield. To read more about what nutritional supplementation Chuck uses on his no-till soils, as well as more tips on boosting soil health, head to the link in bio 🔗 📷: EcoSoils Solutions

Photo of the week: Bud burst edition 🌱 This month, all of the vines are starting to wake up from hibernation in the UK, documented beautifully here by Hambledon Vineyard (@hambledonwineestate ) on Sectormentor. Can you spot the tiny friend? Did you know? You can track all your key phenology dates in Sectormentor to aid harvest prediction 🍇 Contact us on [email protected] to learn more. 📷: Hambledon’s Sectormentor account

Planting cover crops? First you need to understand nutrient cycling! 🌾 ♻️ #SoilHealth #RegenFarming #RegenerativeViticulture

Scaling a regenerative approach across multiple sites is a challenge that requires an extraordinary amount of organisation, structure, collaboration, and co-ordination 🍇🤝 In our latest article, we draw upon the experience of various vineyard management companies and consultants, who detail how best to scale regenerative vineyard management (and what pitfalls to avoid!). You’ll hear from Jordan Lonborg from Coastal Vineyard Care Associates (@coastalvineyardcare ), Enterprise Vineyards (@enterprisevineyards ), Vineworks (@Vineworks_uk ) and Vinescapes (@vinecsapes ). This article is for you if you’d like to learn more about: • Why adopting new practices too quickly & without baselines can undo years of soil health progress • How to ensure that new regenerative practices being implemented on-site are compatible with your soil type • A practical observation framework to bring consistency and accountability across your entire portfolio • How successful vineyard management companies are using structured data to strengthen client relationships and demonstrate proof of regenerative progress Head to the link in bio (@sectormentor ) to read the full article 🔗