Vineyard using sheep fleece as mulch could make shearing worthwhile

Gwinllan Conwy vineyard in North Wales is in the process of laying down sheep fleeces under all its 3,500 vines. Photo credit: Gwinllan Conwy Vineyard/Facebook

Following a successful trial, the vineyard near Conwy in North Wales is currently in the process of laying down thousands of fleeces under its vine rows to improve the soil, deter weeds, and reflect sunlight back onto grapes, while potentially creating a brand new market for wool.

The idea was suggested to vineyard owner Colin Bennett by well-known sheep farmer and TV presenter Gareth Wyn Jones, who has been using fleeces around his vegetables to deter slugs and feed nutrients into the soil.

“They all looked at me daft,” Mr Jones told the BBC when recounting the scene. “The rest is history, and we are seeing now how fantastic this natural product is. Not only for the vineyard, but hopefully for other businesses to develop – orchards, market gardens – this can be utilised for so many businesses.”

Gwinllan Conwy is the first vineyard to trial the idea, soon to be followed by others in the UK, with inquiries also coming in from vineyards in New Zealand and across the pond.

Seizing on the opportunity, Mr Jones and his son Sior have launched a business called Wool & Wine with the aim of supplying vineyards with sheep fleece produced on farms across the UK.

Speaking to the BBC, Sior Jones said while the cost of shearing a sheep is around £1.50 and fleeces are virtually worthless, Wool & Wine is selling them to the vineyard for £1 each, with the price expected to be pushed up by market demand.

At Gwinllan Conwy vineyard, owners Colin and Charlotte Bennett have been growing vines on just under four acres (1.6 ha) since 2012. The main varieties cultivated are the hybrids Rondo and Solaris, alongside Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, from which the business produces its award-winning sparkling and still wines.

To uncover the true potential of using sheep fleeces, the couple conducted a trial in October 2021, where they laid wool under two vine rows for an entire season. The results, as Mr Bennett described, were “phenomenal”.

“When we got to harvest 2022, we could tell the leaves on those two rows were much darker green, analysis revealed higher nutrient content in those leaves than the ones that didn’t have the fleeces,“ the owner told Farmers Guide.

“We did a soil analysis in January this year to check the effect on the soil, and in general we found the soil had better nutrients under the fleeces,” he added.

Other benefits included providing insulation and retaining moisture in the soil, as well as deterring snails and slugs, which Mr Bennett attributes to the lanolin in the fleece.

However, the two main benefits were increased ripeness of the grapes and the wool acting as a “perfect mulch”, stopping the growth of all grasses and weeds, he said.

“Those two rows with the fleeces had higher sugar levels and we realised it was a bit like skiing when you go and get suntan because you have sunlight bouncing off the snow,” Mr Bennett explained, adding that even an extra degree of alcohol can make a huge difference to the quality of the wines.

“In the past 18 months of using them, we haven’t seen any negatives, they don’t blow away, they embed into the ground, and it’s working really well.

“We are also paying farmers a fair price for the fleece,” he mentioned. “Part of the collaboration with Gareth and his son Sion is to try and promote this on hundreds of vineyards in the UK and put some value back into that part of the sheep farming industry.”