US: Pests Bug Northwest Vintners

(Wines&Vines) - Stink bugs, fruit flies and wasps are infesting vineyards across the Northwest, and while wine quality may not be affected, the bugs are proving the proverbial fly in the ointment. 

The good weather that’s delivered growers a near-ideal year and promised winemakers a top-quality vintage has also boosted insect populations.

“The pest pressure is definitely higher than it’s been in previous years,” said Vaughn Walton, an entomologist with the Oregon Wine Research Institute at Oregon State University. 

Species on the rise

On the road between vineyard visits, Walton told Wines & Vines that a mild winter, ambient spring, and warm summer temperatures had created ideal conditions for fruit flies including spotted wing drosophila (D. suzukii) and brown marmorated stink bug (identified in some vineyards last year) to reproduce (see “Asian Fly Detected in Northwest Vineyards” and “Oregon Winemakers Raise Stink about Bug”). 

“You’re seeing a lot more of those around because of the ideal summer temperatures,” Walton said. “If we’re looking at spotted wing, this is the worst year on record so far, and I think the same would apply to Drosophila melanogaster (the common fruit fly).”