An investigative reporter from the San Francisco Chronicle had the tough gig of heading up to the wine country recently to figure out whether all the cute sheep roaming around our vineyards this winter are a genius farming tool or a trendy PR stunt. In short? Chronicle reporter Esther Mobley found evidence of both. She writes: “Driving around Napa and Sonoma this time of year, you’re bound to see some adorable visitors roaming among the grapevines. Sheep have become an inescapable fixture of Wine Country in the winter, prized for their natural mowing and fertilizing abilities. Instead of running a diesel-fueled tractor through the vineyard or spraying herbicide on sprouting weeds, a vintner can simply let loose a hungry herd. The ecological advantage, compared to these mechanical and chemical methods, is clear. Of course, there’s another advantage, too: The sheep are just so darn cute. And they look great on social media. As their use explodes in popularity, some vintners and herders are wondering whether these animals are being reduced to a marketing ploy.” One sheep herder from Lake County, Robert Irwin of the Kaos Sheep Outfit, tells the paper that he calls this phenomenon “the 50 token sheep” — aka, when wineries “get 50 sheep that aren’t really functionally making a difference in the vineyard, but they put them up by the tasting room for people to look at.” (He’s also reaping major benefits from the trend: The Chronicle reports there’s now “massive demand” for his company’s 6,000 sheep, compared to 10 or 15 years ago. “There’s not enough sheep in California to do the work that people want to be done,” the Lake County sheep herder tells the paper — allowing him to charge up to $300 per acre.) Another skeptic, a “biodynamic farmer” and winemaker in Napa, tells the Chronicle that he’s “concerned about greenwashing” — aka, when wineries use the sheep to “project the image of an environmentally responsible vineyard without committing to it fully.” Another Napa winemaker from Cuvaison Winery observes: “It’s kind of amazing to see how people respond to the sheep.” And yet another Napa winery dude, this one from Jason Phelps Vineyards in St. Helena, predicts: “This is going to be the golden era for sheep.” The herds have pretty important jobs in the off-season, too — spending “summertime in open grazing land, which the sheep mow down for wildfire protection,” and “autumn in row crops… where the animals clean up the unharvested fruit.” You can read the full sheep story in the Chronicle — featuring plenty more passionate arguments hailing these incidental Insta traps as miracle ecology cogs. (Source: SF Chronicle; paywall)
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