War on destructive grapevine moth declared over

OAKVILLE ­- Vintners and government officials gathered at the Robert Mondavi Winery on Friday to celebrate the eradication of the European Grapevine moth in North America, which posed a massive threat to the North Coast wine industry when it was discovered here in a nearby chardonnay vineyard in 2009.

Between sips of fume blanc and nibbles off the charcuterie plate, dignitaries lauded the collaborative efforts that wiped out the moth after a seven-year campaign that included $65 million in public funds and an additional $50 million in industry spending.

But the pats on the back didn’t last long given the continuing threats by invasive insects to the region’s wine grape crop, which last year was valued at $1.1 billion before it was turned into wine.

“We won the battle,” said Osama El-Lissy, deputy administrator of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. “The war with invasive pests still continues.”

Sonoma County Agriculture Commissioner Tony Linegar received news this week that the olive bark beetle was discovered for the first time in California, which is of special concern given how many vineyards also have olive trees on their property.

Napa and Sonoma counties had 446 square miles under quarantine regulation since June 2010, at the height of the European grapevine moth infestation when more than 100,000 insects were detected through traps in the state.

The key turn in the fight came after scientists manufactured a pheromone that confused male moths in their efforts to find females to mate with. The pheromone was draped from trellises and prevented the moths from reproducing.

“We have a system that has been tried and tested,” Linegar said. “I think it has given everybody confidence when something like this happens again, we can just fire up the machine.”

Napa County Agriculture Commissioner Greg Clark has instituted a trapping program for pests not known to appear in the United States.

It serves as an early detection system so the damage caused by European grapevine moth doesn’t occur again.“If we have had European grapevine moths out at five traps per square mile, we would have found this pest much sooner than we did,” Clark said. “It doesn’t mean that you keep it from being introduced, but at least you find at a much lower level and a smaller geographic level as opposed to a whole county or 10 other counties.”