David (Dave) Koball

CV Born 8th April 1967. Grew up on his parents’ arable and fruit farm on America’s west coast. He has a BSc in Plant Science from the University of Davis in California and an MSc in Plant Pathology from Cornell University.

Bob Blue told me: “Of all the ranch managers we [Bonterra] had to deal with when buying organic gapes for Bonterra, Dave was always the easiest one to deal with. No matter what arm twisting he was getting from the Fetzer family he delivered the best grapes to us. It’s just the way he operates.”

Family: Dave is married to Amy (née Smith) and they have twin boys (Lucas James Koball,and Zachary Shae Koball).

Organic and Biodynamic Viticultural Expert Appointed to Superintendent at Hopland UCCE Station: “In 1994, the Fetzer family in Mendocino hired a young plant pathologist just out of grad school to convert their 170+ acres of organic vineyards to Biodynamic certification. Dave Koball, a U.C. Davis grad with a master’s degree in plant pathology from Cornell University, took on that challenge, and stayed with those vines (and more) for more than 22 years. These were the grapes that, to a great degree, kickstarted the early era of Biodynamics in California (and later Oregon) vineyards. Jim Fetzer’s pioneering work in Biodynamics with Alan York was one of the first steps in that story. Later Mike Benziger started buying fruit from these vines. He was so bowled over by their quality that he hired York to come and work for him at Benziger. The Hopland vineyard, with 300+ acres of certified Biodynamic vines, is still today the largest Biodynamic vineyard in the U.S. (a title that is expected to pass to Oregon’s King Estate later this year, sit certifies 471 acres of vines). Last month the Hopland Cooperative Extension Research, part of the University of California, announced that Koball will be joining its team as the Superintendent of HCER.

Koball managed the 900+ acres of organic vineyards (including those 300+ acres of Biodynamic vineyards) for Fetzer’s Bonterra brand throughout three eras. The first was under the Fetzer Family, the second was during the time when the liquor company Brown-Forman owned the winery (1992-2010), and the third is the current era of Vina Concha y Toro S.A. ownership which began in 2010.

During Koball’s tenure, the vineyards were studied in various university sponsored research projects on organic and Biodynamic methods including the use of Biodynamic preps in composting (Washington State University) and a new cost study on the comparative costs of growing wine grapes Biodynamically (U.C. Davis).

HCER has a 5,000 ranch in Hopland where it conducts research on agriculture and wildlife.

In the university’s announcement about Koball’s new job, Koball says, “I am thrilled and honored to become a member of the team at the University of California Hopland REC. It is my hope that my background in research from earlier in my career and more recent winegrape industry experience will help me to increase the visibility and usability of this gem of a resource that we have here in our backyard.”

Koball’s cover crop mix for Mendocino County: Koball favours a mix of fescue (for N; can grow too high on low trained Merlot); grass in the form of Blando Brome (holds the soil together) and a mix of three different clovers: subterranean clover (low growing, squeezes out weed seeds); crimson clover and one other.

On the Fetzer Home Ranch he used rye and crimson clover with daikon radish and mustard. When mustard and radish stop flowering he mows them to 15 inches, cutting the seed heads, and topping the rye grass so that it doesn’t set seed. He would mow mid-March to get rid of the mustard and radish, top again in April to keep the rye down; by late April/early May the crimson clover would be starting to flower – letting that go would then suffocate the rye grass. In late May to early June he would mow the crimson down. On vigorous sites Koball would not cultivate until fall – or would cultivate every other row and let that re-seed the clover.

When I was getting work experience at the Biodynamic Kohn Vineyards in the 1990s under Dave this is what he had on his business card: One tonne of grapes, 2,000 pounds, Approx. 60 cases of wine, 720 Bottles (75cl). Approx. 112 vines per ton of grapes, 6.7 bottles per vine,1.2 gallons (US) per vine or One vine per person per week’.