I've always been aware of this notion, and when I planted my vines I put a rose bush every few rows but I have found them to be useless in their canary in coalmine role. Mildew/Odium comes with no warning at all...(in my experience)...the temperature drops below 25C (77F) ...perhaps some...
I let the must (Syrah & Cab) ferment dry...takes a week or so...punching down a couple of times a day...and then press into clean tinajas, filling to the brim, then put the lid on with a large airlock. Malolactic conversion takes place over the following weeks...again naturally, without any...
Just saying...I've been making wine for five years and add nothing. Nothing. The grapes get picked and immediately put through the de-stemmer/crusher...and straight into fermentation vessels. Fermenting starts spontaneously the same day and takes around a week to get below 1.000.
The snap is of...
My wife and I are retired...bought a smallholding (8 acres) in a remote part of Spain a few years ago...only because it had a good view. We couldn't decide what, if anything, to do with the land...but we drilled a borehole and decided to plant some vines. A few years on, we make an OK...