We don’t use a lot of advanced monitoring technology on our vineyards. We’re a bit analog when it comes to farming; really, is there anything more elementarily analog than cow poop?  We do have two bits of technology that, usually, give me a great deal of comfort. The first, our weather station (which I think we’ve discussed in the past) helps us to monitor temperature, rainfall, etc. It can be very comforting when the forecast is for freezing weather overnight during bud break and the monitor shows that on our vineyards the temperature stayed above freezing. Another tool we use is powdery mildew spore traps. Powdery mildew is a fungal disease and is one of the biggest problems winegrowers encounter. It is one of the most common reasons we spray our vineyards and pay so much attention to vine canopy management. I receive reports on the status of powdery mildew on the vineyard twice a week. Typically, we see a zero (0) next to the vineyard name but once in a while a red number pops up telling us we have trapped spores. It’s almost always a small enough number that it is not cause for concern, but it gets our attention nonetheless. It also reminds us what a fantastic job our vineyard stewards on the Results Partners team does for us and that gives us comfort too.  More later.