Spraying for powdery mildew can be ~25% of the cost of farming a vineyard and be one of the key elements of a grower’s carbon footprint. Sarah Placella, Founder and CEO of Root Applied Sciences, has taken her deep research in microbes and created a data-driven solution to monitor the air for mildew and spray only when needed. Root can cut ~5 sprays per season, and growers have an average 5x ROI using the system.

Detailed Show Notes:

Root Applied Sciences (“Root”) - airborne pathogen monitoring for farmers, like an “early warning system”

• Founded in 2018, 1st work with/ growers in 2021
• Powdery mildew (“PM”) is a big problem for vineyards in CA (March - August)
• Currently only markets to vineyards, done work with/ strawberries, leafy greens, can do anything with/ DNA and small insects
• Napa, Sonoma, Central Coast today

HW enabled SaaS model - Root owns and maintains devices

• Device in the field, just above the canopy
• Send data (battery status, device status, temp, humidity) to the cloud over LTEM connection
• SW to see the data
• The grower collects samples from devices 2x/week and sends them to the lab
• Growers can share data with/ each other

Has an automated prototype in process

• Will not need a grower to collect and send samples
• Fundraising “seed” round for an automated system

~25% of operational costs are spent managing PM

• 6-16 pesticide applications/season
• Conventional growers have fewer applications, but spend more for each one
• Organic may be spraying every week
• PM takes 7-10 days to enter plants. See 2 peaks of PM before growers can see it, once PM exists, it's hard to control
• Root can cut 20-80% of sprays (~5 sprays/season), lengthens spray intervals when low risk
• ~$100/acre spray cost per application, ~$300/acre if need to spray by hand (e.g., steep slopes)
• 2024 - saw PM on Mar 29 in Carneros, growers planned 1st spray 4/16, moved up 1st spray to 4/2; cut sprays and more clean fruit
• Root data enables more biological sprays (have shorter efficacy windows, are more environmentally friendly, and data gives more confidence to try them)

Other benefits of Root

• Clean fruit - faster fermentation (5 days faster), higher quality, possible increase in yields
• Environmental (less sprays, tractor use) - less diesel use, lower soil compaction; for 1 grower, 1 spray is a 13% reduction in carbon footprint
• Farmworker health - fewer chemicals in the air

Pricing

• $3,000/season/monitoring station all-in
• Avg grower has 4 stations, 1 every ~30-50 acres
• Precision growers or rolling hills, 1 station every ~10 acres

~5x ROI

Barriers to adoption

• Risk aversion
• No access to a carrier to send samples
• Grape prices down (budgets)
• More adaptive sprays can make operational scheduling harder for vineyard management companies

Other PM solutions

• “Spray and pray” (~90% of growers) - calendar-based system
• Weather-based tools don’t work well and may be impacted by climate change
• Spore trapping tools (e.g., spinning rods, roto rods) have sticky material that reduces sample size and efficacy, UV light exposure degrades PM
• Image-based analysis (new) - lots of data to send, samples ~2L air/min vs 400L air/min Root, does not specify type of PM present (~40 types)

Product roadmap - more power efficiency, integrating a solar panel

Has done work with/ downy mildew, botrytis, vine mealybug, and can detect them, but does not add a lot of value

Excited about growth in microbial mildewcides (biologicals)

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With over 1,000 kosher wines from across all major winegrowing regions, Royal Wine is the largest importer (and producer and distributor) of kosher wine in the world. Gabe Geller, Director of PR & Wine Education, discusses the market for kosher wine, how and where it is made, and how Orthodox Jews hear about them.

Detailed Show Notes:

Gabe’s background, at Royal Wine >9 years, wine industry for 16 years (retail, consulting, marketing)

Royal Wine - world’s leading importer, producer, distributor of kosher wine

• In US, carries >1,000 kosher wines from every major wine producing region
• Owns Kedem, Herzog, and other brands

Can’t taste kosher wine, similar to other wines

• Produced only by Sabbath observant Jews
• No non-kosher ingredients or processing agents (e.g. - fining agents)
• Has kosher certification on the bottle
• Mevushal (“boiled”) - for some kosher wines, uses flash pasteurization which is also used by some non-kosher wineries; tend to taste more approachable initially, but ages longer

Israel #1 producer of kosher wine (~5M cases), USA (~350k cases; mostly Herzog), France (~350k cases across many wineries)

Kosher wine market

• Observant Jews drink kosher wine year-round
• Jews use wine in almost every religious ceremony, considered the “holy beverage”
• Passover 1st night dinner (Seder), every adult is required to drink 4 cups of wine (can by any kosher wine or grape juice), each cup symbolizes 1 way God saved Jews from slavery
• Jews who don’t do kosher normally will for Seder
• 40% of kosher wine in the US is purchased for Passover (used to be 60%, declining as more quality kosher wines available, so more is being bought year-round)
• Top markets - Israel, US (NY/NJ #1, FL, CA - CA Jews drink less wine than East Coast Jews), France

In top kosher markets, large retailers (e.g. - Total Wine) will have a kosher selection, some kosher wine stores, and online retailers (e.g. - Wine.com) also carry kosher

Of the 15.7M Jewish people (2023), only a small portion keep kosher

Some kosher wines sold to the general market (e.g. - Bartenura Moscato #1 imported Moscato the past 15 years, most don’t know it’s kosher; Jeunesse semi-dry wines have a distinct consumer appeal)

Israeli politics / Gaza war have lead to people buying more to support Israel

Marketing to the Orthodox community

• Identify sects with stricter mevushal rules (e.g. - 101F vs 105F) and promote specific brands that meet those
• Print advertising big (English, Yiddish), many do not use as much internet, none on Sabbath, take in news via print
• Whatsapp #1 social media for Orthodox Jews (or Telegram)

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Though one of the oldest wine-growing regions in the world, Israel is still exploring its potential after Muslim rule after World War I. Victor Schoenfeld, Head Winemaker, and Walter Whyte, VP of Sales for Yarden Imports, explain how Golan Heights Winery has set the bar for the quality of Israeli wine and spreads its wines globally, both within the Jewish community and beyond.

Detailed Show Notes:

Victor Schoenfeld - CA native, went to UC Davis, recruited to Golan Heights Winery in 1991

Walter Whyte - managed officers’ clubs in the military and learned about wine

Golan Heights Winery (“GH”) background

• Founded 1983 to export wine of high quality
• 26% exported today (production to increase 30%, primarily for export)
• NE Israel, Syrian border, 33rd parallel (like San Diego)
• Volcanic plateau, Mediterranean climate, high elevation (1,200-4,000 ft)
• 19 varietals, known for traditional method sparkling, Yarden Cabernet
• Zelma Long, former consultant
• Price points range from $15 (Mt Hermon) - Yarden Cab ($50) - $80+ - $1,000 (Cru Elite)
• Manage 40% of vineyards (to increase), rest on long-term contracts
• 500 vineyard blocks, harvested & vinified separately
• Has two propagation vineyards and a nursery

Israeli wine history

• Journal of Science (2023) - identified two winegrape domestication events 11,000 years ago - Caucasus (Georgia) and Western Asia (Israel)
• Discovered ~30 ancient wine artifacts
• Golan Heights is the coolest climate region in Israel
• Muslim rule 738 - WWI - old varieties died out

Israeli war impacts

• Minimal grape growing impacts (1 missile fell on vineyard), but emotionally challenging
• Support in the US for Israeli wine, reduction in sales in Europe after Oct 7, 2023 events

Israeli wine market

• GH demand > supply in Israel
• Per capita consumption is low; a large segment does not drink due to religion
• The food scene has exploded in the last 20 years, but many restaurants do not serve Israeli wine
• Top 5 markets - US, Canada, Europe, Far East (Japan)
• Top US markets - NY, NJ, CT, FL, TX, IL, CA
• Historically, wines went to religious markets, expanding into secular
• internationally marketed as high quality, not as kosher; Angelo Gaja distributes in Italy

Differentiating GH

• “Oldest new world winery in existence”
• Marketing messages: World-class wine, kosher, then from Israel
• High elevation, volcanic soils on 33rd parallel (Etna is 37th)

Marketing

• Grass roots, get people to taste the wine
• Active in Jewish organizations, ads in Jewish publications, tasting events sponsored by Jewish groups
• Strong presence in Kosher wine stores

All GH wines are kosher

• 2 types - Mevushal (cooked/pasteurized) - required for some, esp Kosher restaurants (catering, weddings, bar mitzvahs); Non-mevushal
• Many wineries do both
• Everything used in winemaking needs to be certified kosher (e.g., yeast)
• Can’t use things like isinglass
• GH's whole facility is kosher
• “Could double business if made mevushal,” but will not to maintain quality

Food and wine pairing is not typical. Traditional Middle Eastern cuisine, “mezze,” has a lot of different flavors at once

Passover dinner is coursed, and every adult must drink four glasses of wine (or grape juice)

Yarden Cru Elite - $2,000 per pair

• 265 pairs related, including NFT, sold directly from winery
• Celebrate the 40th anniversary with collectors
• Cabernet Sauvignon, single vineyard, single block, two single barrels
• Launched at an Israeli restaurant in Singapore

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