Roundup: Win Some, Lose Some or Stick Your Head in the Sand

WIN SOME

The big news today is that Bayer agreed to settle many of its Roundup lawsuits for $10 billion. According to the New York Times, the settlement covers up to 95,000 cases. Writing for the New York Times was business (not health) reporter, Patricia Cohen.

Shockingly (to me), "Individuals, depending on the strength of their cases, will receive payments of $5,000 to $250,000, according to two people close to the negotiations," the paper wrote.

The first plaintiff, Vallejo school groundskeeper Dewayne Johnson was awardded $298 million which was later reduced by the judge to $78.

Sonoma County resident Edwin Hardeman's award was reduced to $25 million.

Judge Chhabria oversaw the Hardeman case; Mr. Hardeman (left) got cancer after
regularly using Roundup to kill poison oak on his Sonoma property

Both are in stark contrast to the $2 billion the jury awarded in Oakland to the Pilliods, grandparents who live in Contra Costa County. However, the judge reduced that to $87 million.

Still, these three judgments are orders of magnitude higher than $5,000 to $250,000, so one wonders how these figures were arrived at. If you got cancer, and it's life threatening, $250,000 is inadequate compensation by any standard.

LOSE SOME

The Times article continues, "This week, a federal judge in California referred to the agency’s pronouncement when it ruled that the state could not require a cancer warning on Roundup, writing that “that every government regulator of which the court is aware, with the exception of the I.A.R.C., has found that there was no or insufficient evidence that glyphosate causes cancer.”"

I am not sure why a federal judge (a Bush appointee) is able to dismiss the world's leading panel on cancer - IARC - with a stroke of his pen as if the scientists involved did not represent the gold standard on cancer risk assessment.

The IARC panel included many former top US government health officials who have spent their entire professional lives studying cancer risks.

IARC is unique in that it is not a regulator and therefore not subject to political influence. The EPA and other governmental groups are lobby-able. Yet, the EPA's very first pronouncement on Roundup in 1985 was that it was a carcinogen. That assessment was based on the same rodent studies that IARC evaluated in 2014-2015. (Strangely, this fact is omitted on the Wikipedia page about glyphosate). The initial lab testing by Monsanto was found to be fraudulent, as dead animals in the initial studies were thrown out, and the lab managers went to jail.

IARC's assessment of the data on glyphosate and the Roundup formula (which also contains many other more toxic ingredients) was exhaustive and definitive and based on dozens of animal studies in labs that clearly show its toxicity. Population studies have also been utilized to show that heavy glyphosate users have as much as a 41% higher risk of getting cancer.

Part of the issue is that Bayer failed to warn in its labeling.

So why on earth would the company still resist labeling and litigate this in federal court?

Even Judge Chhabria in San Francisco, who was initially quite lenient with Monsanto/Bayer in early federal court hearings (I was there in the courtroom and wrote about the initial federal Daubert hearings for Civil Eats in 2018), seems to have become more alarmed. After wading through mountains of evidence, Chhabria says publicly that the herbicide manufacturer was unconcerned about the product's effects on people.

“There’s a fair amount of evidence about Monsanto being pretty crass about this issue,” Judge Chhabria of the U.S. District Court in San Francisco said when he reviewed the Hardeman verdict last summer. “Monsanto didn’t seem concerned at all about getting at the truth of whether glyphosate caused cancer.”

IMPACT ON WINE: CONSUMERS CONCERNED, WINE INSTITUTE'S HEAD IN SAND

The verdict in the court of public opinion is in, though, and more and more wineries are being asked if they use Roundup.

"I see growers getting off of Roundup left and right," said weed control expert John Roncoroni, who works in the UCCE's Napa office. "Consumer preference is what is motivating them."

Their responses have been twofold - switching to a combination of two more toxic herbicides or adopting organic weed control practices.

"They'll switch to a combination of two herbicides to get the power of Roundup," he said.

Despite medical evidence to the contrary, the Wine Institute still thinks glyphosate is not a problem, posting this inaccurate and outdated information on its website.



Carl Winters, now retired, is not a medical or health professional. His degree was in agricultural and environmental chemistry, not medicine. And he infamously rode out to his retirement leading a song about how he loved to spray at a professional, continuing ed workshop for Sonoma growers.

The Wine Institute has enough funds to hire a consultant who can evaluate the literature and tell them the revised level for toxic dietary effects of glyphosate on humans. It is not 140 glasses of wine per day.

Furthermore, why do they feel the need to say anything on the matter at all? They don't put out "facts" on the toxicity of copper residues in wines, bee and bird toxins used in wine grape growing, or other health and safety matters.

The level of dietary glyphosate intake that leading scientists say is concerning is far, far, far lower than we previously thought, according to the leading scientists working at University College in London, the Ramazzini Foundation in Italy, epidemiologists at UCLA, UC San Diego Medical School researchers and MDs, researchers at Indiana University, and physician scientists at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York. There is a mountain of evidence in peer reviewed journals.

Why would the Wine Institute shun so many professional opinions that link glyphosate to autism, developmental issues, liver disease and cancer risks? Honestly, why?

Organic Growers Learn about Biodynamics in CCOF Webinar: Webinar Video Now Online

One of my pet peeves is the lack of education in the wine industry on how to become organic or biodynamic.

My first encounter with U.C. Davis was an ampelography class with Andy Walker. Across the way was the university's first organic vineyard demonstration project but - what a mess. Someone had accidentally sprayed chemicals on it and it would be three years before it could be considered organic. Such was the support for organic wine grape growing at Davis. (I hope this description no longer applies). Instead we visited the "conventional" vineyard, where we saw first hand how fungicide in the fertigation line could perk up a vine overnight. Until then I had not know that the plants were being forcefed.

Therefore, it is with great joy that I saw that CCOF and Demeter had partnered to bring a little bit of biodynamic education to organic growers last week in an online webinar. Now the webinar's been posted to YouTube so you, too, can enjoy it. If you are more interested in farming practices than certification, skip ahead to the presentation by Rudy Marchesi of Montinore Estate in Oregon whose talk and slides focus more on the farming aspects.

Rudy is a down home guy who has been farming wine grapes (and making wine) in the Willamette Valley since 2004 on more than 200 acres. Today he is the board chair of Demeter USA. I posted some photos from his presentation earlier this week.

In Photos: To the Skeptics, Here's What Biodynamic Farming Looks Like

This week, CCOF sponsored a joint webinar with Demeter USA, the biodynamic certifier, to help organic growers learn about biodynamics. CCOF now offers dual inspections, in which a farm can be inspected both for organic and biodynamic certification at the same time, thus saving costs and travel.

Demeter USA Board Chair Rudy Marchesi presented photos from research conducted by his Tuscany-based wine grape consultant, Adriano Zago, who is also an agronomist who works with produce farmers. The photos are of Italian lettuce farmers and Italian wine grape growers Zago works with.

Here are some of the photos Marchesi shared, showing the dramatically healthier root systems of the plants treated with fermented horn manure spray (which is known in biodynamics as 500). Vineyard photos illustrating the use of the silica spray (501) follow.

LETTUCE FARMERS - Horn Manure Spray (500)



  

VINEYARDS - Fermented Horn Manure Spray (500)

VINEYARDS - Silica Spray (501)

Vines have perked up and leaves angled more toward the sun

The CCOF webinar will be posted online. I will add the link here when it is available.

FOR MORE INFORMATION

Hear more from Adriano Zago on the Italian Wine Podcast in conversation with Monty Waldin.

Ballard Canyon's Beckmen Vineyards Launches Its First Natural Wines from Its Biodynamic Vines

Steve Beckmen of Beckmen Vineyards has gone natural - as in wine, that is.

Growing biodynamic wine grapes since 2002, Beckmen has produced hundreds of wines from his Ballard Canyon vineyard for 18 years, but this time, it's different - 1Ingredient consists of two skin fermented, white wines under the winery's new 1Ingredient label.

"As its name implies, 1NGREDIENT is wine made from one ingredient, biodynamically certified wine grapes," said Beckmen. No additives or preservatives (including sulfur) are used in the winemaking process.

"Besides the tractors we used to farm the blocks for 1NGREDIENT and the fuel we used to transport the grapes to the winery, these wines were crushed and bottled by hand. Except for the sorting, destemming, and the corker we used to make sure each bottle has the best possible seal, there was no other modern machinery used in making these wines" he said.

The first releases of 1NGREDIENT are both extended skin contact white wines, 2018 Viognier Ballard Canyon ($65) and 2018 Sauvignon Blanc Ballard Canyon ($48).



The grapes were fermented in Amphora made by TAVA in Northern Italy.

Said Beckmen, "We worked with TAVA to create these special vessels for our project focusing on the right mix of sand as well as defining the correct temperature the pots were fired at to ensure the right amount of oxygenation during fermentation and aging."

"We chose amphora as a look to the past as we tried to utilize practices that were used ages ago when wine was made without additives and the fancy machinery that we use in today. These specially designed amphora provided a perfect neutral vessel to ferment and age this type of wine, allowing the character of the grapes, vineyard and winery to shine through in each bottle."

The wine was fermented and aged on its skins for 10 months.

"The 1NGREDIENT wines are not fined or filtered and are bottled with a haze which protects the wines from premature oxidation," Beckmen said,

"This technique is an unusual way to produce white wine," he added. "The skins contain anti-oxidative compounds that allowed us to bottle the wine without the use of sulphur dioxide, the main preservative used in winemaking. White wines with long skin contact not only pick up the anti-oxidative properties of the skins but also extract tannins that help bolster the structure needed for the wine to age over a long period of time."

Beckmen tasted the wines over a period of several days, as they evolved in the bottle. Here are his tasting notes on the Viognier's progression:

Day 1: "Exotic, complex flavors of fresh ginger, caramelized apricot, jasmine, and citrus fruits lead to an elegant, round mouthfeel with balancing acidity and light tannins. Citrus fruits, floral, brisk peach, and a hint of coco highlight the flavors with good length and structure that carry the flavors on a long finish."

Day 2: "This has opened up to reveal more varietal fruits of apricot, peach, flowers, and spice on the nose... still super elegant with nice roundness balanced by some good acid and light tannin. More fruit coming through in the mouth as well with flavors of apricot, stone fruits, citrus, spice, and still a hint of coco...fresh and amazing..."

Day 3: "...still fresh and vibrant both on the nose and in the mouth. The mouth is where it impresses me, it is so elegant and pretty in texture and flavor, and seems like it will continue to develop and age nicely for the long term. A white that should be aged for a year or two, and decanted for an hour or two prior to drinking. This wine will easily age for 20+ years or more."

Watch it on YouTube: Imidacloprid, a Bird and Bee Toxin Featured in a New German News Doc, Doubles in Use on Wine Grapes in California

This week, my YouTube feed offered up this sobering 30 min. documentary on a commonly used insecticide called imidacloprid. It is toxic to bees and birds and in Europe, it is widely banned. Not so here in the U.S. where the corn lobby has made sure to keep it legal so it can continue using seeds coated with the insecticide.

Meanwhile in California, wine grape growers are seeing an increased number of vine mealybugs. Often brought in by ants, vine mealybugs also bring with them leafroll virus, the virus that used to scare the wine industry the most until the current corona virus surfaced.

I've been researching the pros and cons of different farming practices in the fight to combat the vine mealybug in California vineyards.

Imidacloprid use has doubled from 2009 to 2017 and wine grape growers alone used more than 79,818 pounds on 258,653 acres of wine grapes in 2017 (the most recent year that data is available for).

I'll be writing more about this topic in the coming days, but let's start with the video, as it lays the foundation for the rest of the story.

Scientists Find Monarch Butterflies' Food - Milkweed - Loaded with Pesticides in California's Central Valley

Scientists studying milkweed, to better understand how pesticides affect declining monarch butterfly populations found some disturbing results when they sampled milkweed growing in 100 agricultural of sites last year. Pesticides were ubiquitous.

Highlights:

• 64 different pesticides identified

• There was an average of nine types of individual pesticides per sample and as many as 25

• The ubiquity and diversity of pesticides we found in these milkweeds was a surprise.

"One might expect to see sad looking, droopy plants that are full of pesticides, but they are all big beautiful looking plants, with the pesticides hiding in plain sight," said a lead scientist.

Here is the press release the scientists put out. I will also post another article showing a map with where the leading pesticides are found in wine grape growing.

PRESS RELEASE

Anna Tatarko, a doctoral student in the University of Nevada, Reno's Ecology, Evolution, and Conservation Biology program, helped with the sampling for the ppesticide study. The beetle in the foreground is the blue milkweed beetle, a milkweed specialist of the West. Credit: Angela Laws, Xerces Society.

New evidence identifies 64 pesticide residues in milkweed, the main food for monarch butterflies in the west. Milkweed samples from all of the locations studied in California's Central Valley were contaminated with pesticides, sometimes at levels harmful to monarchs and other insects.

The study raises alarms for remaining western monarchs, a population already at a precariously small size. Over the last few decades their overwintering numbers have plummeted to less than 1% of the population size than in the 1980s—which is a critically low level.

Monarch toxicity data is only available for four of the 64 pesticides found, and even with this limited data, 32% of the samples contained pesticide levels known to be lethal to monarchs, according to a study released today in Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution.

"We expected to find some pesticides in these plants, but we were rather surprised by the depth and extent of the contamination," said Matt Forister, a butterfly expert, biology professor at the University of Nevada, Reno and co-author of the paper. "From roadsides, from yards, from wildlife refuges, even from plants bought at stores—doesn't matter from where—it's all loaded with chemicals. We have previously suggested that pesticides are involved in the decline of low elevation butterflies in California, but the ubiquity and diversity of pesticides we found in these milkweeds was a surprise."
Milkweed was chosen as the focus of this study because it the only food source for larval monarch butterflies in the West, and thus critical for their survival.

"We collected leaf samples from milkweed plants throughout the Central Valley and sent them to be screened for pesticides," Chris Halsch, lead author of the paper and a doctoral student in the University's Ecology, Evolution, and Conservation Biology program, said. "This study is the first necessary step for understanding what butterflies are actually encountering. Now we can use these data to design experiments to test hypotheses about the relative importance of pesticide use and other stressors such as climate change on local butterflies."

While this is only a first look at the possible risks these pesticides pose to western monarchs, the findings indicate the troubling reality that key breeding grounds for western monarchs are contaminated with pesticides at harmful levels.

"One might expect to see sad looking, droopy plants that are full of pesticides, but they are all big beautiful looking plants, with the pesticides hiding in plain sight," Forister, who has been a professor int he University's College of Science since 2008, said.

Western monarchs are celebrated throughout the western states and especially along the California coast where large congregations overwinter in groves of trees. Population declines also have been documented in the breeding grounds. Areas of inland California, including the Central Valley, offer important monarch breeding habitat throughout the spring and summer, including being the home to the very first spring generation which will continue the migration inland to eventually populate all western states and even southern British Columbia.

Declines in the population of western monarch butterflies have been linked with various stressors, including habitat loss and degradation, pesticide use, and climate change, among others. While pesticide use has been associated with declines, previous studies had not attempted to quantify the residues that butterflies can encounter on the western landscape.

The study's findings paint a harsh picture for western monarchs, with the 64 different pesticides identified in milkweed. Out of a possible 262 chemicals screened, there was an average of nine types of individual pesticides per sample and as many as 25. Agricultural and retail samples generally had more residues than wildlife refuges and urban areas, but no area was entirely free from contamination. Certain pesticides were present across all landscapes, with five pesticides appearing more than 80% of the time. Chlorantraniliprole, the second most abundant compound, was found at lethal concentrations to Monarchs in 25% of all samples.

Understanding of pesticide toxicity to the monarch is limited, and is based on previously reported lab experiments. Thus we have much to learn about the concentrations encountered in field, but these new results raise concerns nonetheless. While this research focused on monarch toxicity, other pollinators and beneficial insects are also at risk from pesticide contamination throughout the landscape.

"We can all play a role in restoring habitat for monarchs," said Sarah Hoyle, Pesticide Program Specialist at the Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation and coauthor of the paper. "But it is imperative that farmers, land managers and gardeners protect habitat from pesticides if we hope to recover populations of this iconic animal."

A Good Read: "Two Conferences, Two Biodynamics"

Thanks to Craig Camp for putting this in words.

https://winecampblog.com/journal/2020/6/8/two-conferences-two-biodynamics

Local Biodynamic Winery Suffers as Hipster Wine Shops Focus on European Imports

I called Martin Pohl, at Beaver Creek Vineyards up in Middletown yesterday, to find him a little down on life. "We have been on the phone trying to get loans," Pohl said.

Pohl of Beaver Creek Vineyards with his "Survivor,"
a Petite Sirah named for the 2015 Lake County fires

He was hit by the Lake County fires in 2015 and proved resilient enough to pull through, even naming his 2015 Petite Sirah "Survivor." A third of his 22 acres of vines burned, but he replanted.

Then more fires closed nearby Harbin Hot Springs, once the source of a steady flow of visitors driving by, for three years. The hot spring resort opened up again after a major renovation in 2019, only to close again this spring due to the pandemic.

"Only our distribution channel is keeping us going," Pohl said. (His wines are distributed by Mountain Peoples Wine.) His wines are sold in a few Whole Foods stores.

The small, artisanal winery makes affordably priced wines from only biodynamic or organic grapes. Pohl vinifies them in a pure way.

Yet he can't get his wines into the Bay Area's hipster wine shops. He's just not one of the "cool kids."

Yet, in my humble opinion, Martin is one of the very cool kids. He dry farms, he uses no sulfur on his vines, he is committed to organic and biodynamic practices (and certification) and his wines are very good especially for the price.


Beaver Creek's Fairytale Cab lists for the reasonable price of $29 and their Merlot for $24. Case prices are lower. Pohl just doesn't have a super hip website or a PR person or a heavy duty marketer. And he's in Lake County.

"We were planning on updating our website and getting new labels this year," he said, "but now...?"

So why won't Punchdown, Bi-Rite and all the others purveyors of local foods buy and carry his wines?

When he tried Dry Farm Wines, they said they do not buy wines made in the U.S.

"They say they would rather buy European wines, better prices. But what about local? I'm local," he said, "and our wine stores aren't supporting that. Why not?"

Good question. Organic and biodynamic, good wine, and LOCAL. Sounds good to me.

A 100 Point Webinar: Vinous, Phil Coturri and a Cast of a Thousand Sips

For awhile, I was binge watching wine webinars.

With the debut of VirtualWineEvents.com, it was easy.

Who could resist getting up close and personal from the anonymous comfort of one's boudoir with Michel Chapoutier, explaining his approach to terroir driven wines? Or fail to thrill as Elin McCoy revealed wines exemplifying Napa's newer styles?

The hits kept coming..."Master Sommelier Larry Stone [of Lingua Franca] Explores the Volcanic Landscape of Willamette Valley..."Masterclass on Organic and Biodynamic Wines with Britt & Per Karlsson"..."Heitz Cellar with Carlton McCoy"..."Rioja with Tim Atkin"...and on and on.

(Thank you to 67PallMall.com where most of these videos can be found. Note: though the videos are on YouTube, you must enter through the 67PallMall.com website to find them, as they have cleverly marked them as "unlisted" on YouTube so they do not appear in search results on YouTube. Is that just so clubby!)

At a certain point, I hit wine webinar fatigue zone and reverted to my previous programming - my real life - but made it a point to watch one last webinar: Moon Mountain wineries with Antonio Galloni and Phil Coturri, who has made the region an organic heartland for mountain grown Cabs.

And there they were - the gazillionaires and their highly prized blenders. The well heeled guys lucky enough to strike gold and spend their riches on Phil growing their grapes - and on the top tier talent to pick and press and age those purple globes into yielding their refined, subtle, thrilling flavors.

The history flowed, as did the camaraderie. Where else are you going to see screenwriter Robert Kamen egging former Disney chief John Lasseter about getting a case of wine? Or masters like winemakers Erich Bradley and Jeff Baker talking terroir? Or hear what happened the day Moon Mountain Vineyard caught on fire?

And at the center of his world, like a North-South Pole, was Phil Coturri, who persuaded these guys to let him rip soils, break boulders, and tap the volcanic treasures deep in the soils of Moon Mountain.

Galloni's new map of the Moon Mountain AVA was originally supposed to be two sided, showing the Mayacamas and Mount Veeder on the opposite side, but that county line cut it into two - an artificial boundary that annoys everyone on Moon Mountain. On the other hand, for wine buyers, it cuts the price of world class Cab in half.

The map definitely sparks insights. I had never realized just how close B Wise is to Monte Rosa. Or exactly how related Amapola Creek is to it, as well. See for yourself in the map in the video which also reveals the soil types of each vineyard and what's planted in them, block by block. What it doesn't show you is the real place, which you'll have to see for yourself with your own two eyes.

I spent my 60th birthday on Kamen's estate deck and had been totally unprepared for what I would find. Cosmic? Panoramic? Sweeping? Words don't begin to describe it.

The Lasseters spoke about their new Trinity Ridge vineyard, too, and released their first Syrah from it this spring, too. Those mountain grapes don't come cheap - it's $125 a bottle.

So if you're looking for some engaging YouTube wine viewing, and a little more fun than the typical, technical "these are the soil types" webinar, tune in and drop down on Moon Mountain in this special bit of live theater.

Data Driven Marketing In the Wine Industry

We now know that pandemic has launched a revolution in the way fine wine is being marketed and sold.

But just as chance favors the prepared mind, wineries who had already been pursuing digital technology and analysis of their customer data (obtained legally in customer interactions and from social media channels) were more equipped than others to, forgive me, zoom down the online sales path.

I pitched this story on data to Wine Business back in October, after writing a big article on POS providers and moderating the magazine's IT conference's panel on the same subject. It was obvious then that winery POS systems were collecting mountains of data. But what were these wineries doing with their data? That was the story I wanted to tell.

I interviewed the wineries and industry experts in Feb. before the pandemic arose (to meet print issue deadlines). Suddenly now it is even more relevant to the health and wellbeing of the industry.

I am grateful to all of the interviewees in this piece (and to all those whose comments I couldn't fit in due to lack of space) who so graciously shared their time and their insights. My hope is that this article will help wineries small and large prosper during these challenging times and in the future.

Consumers are loving the chance to get closer online to winemakers and wines, through online tastings. May it continue - and grow.

And wineries are finding it isn't hard as they thought to use digital channels, once they focused on them.

Hopefully this two way connectivity will spark more wine love and appreciation.

• Read the article in the magazine (starting on page 78) - free with registration (view online or download100 page pdf)

• Read just the article here (5 page pdf - no registration)