Wine Country Times

Growers of wine grapes in Sonoma County have popped the cork on the industry’s first innovation accelerator.

It’s called Sonoma Vineyard Innovation Through Science.

“The idea was to make Sonoma County the kind of place where if you have an idea that could be applicable for our grape growers, let’s invite you to come in and pitch us,” Karissa L. Kruse, president of Sonoma County Winegrowers, told Wine Country Times. “As the wine growers, what we can commit to you is trying to find the partnerships for pilot projects that could be relevant off the ground here locally and that could be scaled.”

Using sound waves to improve productivity of crops has been tested in potatoes and almonds, she said.

"That's really interesting but for me the bigger takeaway is what else is out there that we don't know about?" Kruse said.  

Sonoma County wine growers, while competitive, are also very collaborative, she said.

“If they find a way to farm better or protect against disease they are always willing to share that, to make their neighbor a better farmer. If there is a way to elevate the conversation and pilot some of these things here, I don’t see any reason why we wouldn’t be sharing that knowledge," Kruse said.

The initiative was announced in January and has already attracted much attention, Kruse said.

“I have had outreach from five or six companies and organizations, with ideas or thought or some science we’d like to talk to you about,” she said. “This is really resonating.”

The organization hopes this summer to have a “pitch day” where new ideas can be presented to a committee of grape growers and experts in small business and finance.

“I’m hoping that during pitch day they will be able to evaluate the different ideas and then we would leverage those relationships to bring that opportunity to as many growers as wanted to be a part of that pilot," Kruse said.

She envisions pitch day becoming an annual event in Sonoma County.

“They could continue to come back to the advisory committee with updates and questions,” she said.

Sonoma County has about 1,800 wine growers, all of whom are members of the Sonoma County Winegrowers, a quasi governmental organization funded by the growers.