Sonoma, Napa vineyards face new rules over apple moth

Grape growers in a 19-square-mile region of southern Sonoma and Napa counties must follow new quarantine restrictions aimed at halting the spread of the light brown apple moth, state agriculture officials announced Friday.

The new rules probably won't hinder the grape crush but will require time for government inspections of the affected vineyards, said growers and agriculture officials.

"Harvest is not going to be delayed because of the inspections," said Sonoma County Agriculture Commissioner Lisa Correia. She said that with the pace of harvest about to accelerate rapidly, "we've ramped up to get the inspections done right away."

The Carneros area is the second vineyard region in Sonoma County to face quarantine rules aimed at battling the apple moth.

The Australian insect was the center of controversy earlier this year when the state proposed an aerial-spraying program over parts of the Bay Area. Officials since have dropped the plan.

Last week the state Department of Food and Agriculture announced it would place part of the Carneros area under quarantine following the discovery of two moths, one in Sonoma County and one in Napa County.

On Friday, state officials released a map showing the exact quarantine area. The boundary lines touch Duhig Road at Highway 12/121 in the north and extend to Milton Road on the east, the Napa Slough on the south and the Third Napa Slough on the west.

Some vineyard owners in the quarantine area said there will be little change to their operations.

Laura Abbott, a spokeswoman for Napa County's Domaine Chandon, said workers at its Carneros vineyards already place the grape loads under tarps en route to the company's Yountville winery. Domaine Chandon does so to combat another insect, the vine mealybug, but officials have said the tarping can serve as a substitute to vineyard inspections for the apple moth.

Buena Vista Carneros winery also will be unaffected because it crushes all its grapes within the quarantine area, said Tony Lombardi, a spokesman for the winery's parent company, Ascentia Wine Estates of Healdsburg. As such, Buena Vista doesn't need field inspections.

Another Ascentia brand, Gary Farrell Vineyards & Winery, will need to have some vineyards inspected in the quarantine area before it transports chardonnay and pinot noir grapes for crush, Lombardi said.

The apple moth was first confirmed in California in early 2007. The insect since has been found in most Bay Area counties and south to Monterey.

The state says the moth could do considerable damage to numerous crops and to the environment. Critics disagree and have opposed not only aerial spraying but the use of special twist ties that would have been placed near homes in the Sonoma Valley. Both the spraying and the twist ties rely on a chemical that doesn't kill the insects but confuses the male moths and disrupts mating.

The Sonoma Valley area was the first in the county to come under quarantine after two moths were discovered there this spring. Officials have said the 15-square-mile area could see the quarantine restrictions lifted by early October if no more moths turn up in insect traps there.

Pete Downs, senior vice president of external affairs for Kendall-Jackson winery, said it appears from the new map that some of the company's vineyards lie within the Carneros quarantine area.

The next step, he said, is "to work with the ag commissioners in the two counties" and set up inspections so that the vineyards can be deemed free of the apple moth.

Staff Writer Kevin McCallum contributed to this story. You can reach Staff Writer Robert Digitale at 521-5285 or robert.digitale@pressdemocrat.

com.