Hans-Peter Schmidt runs Mythopia, a 7.5-acre (3-hectare) experimental vineyard in the Swiss Alps, affiliated to the Ithaka Institute for Carbon Intelligence. Alongside grapes, Mythopia also cultivates 5 acres (2 hectares) of fruit, vegetables, and aromatic plants.
“The Valais is a monocultural desert with dead soils. Helicopters spray pesticides and there is virtually no green cover at all among the vines. In fact, for three months of the year, when you drive through the countryside, you have to close your windows because the stench of pesticides and herbicides is so overwhelming. It is actually quite a toxic area. It was a challenge to take over a vineyard here. But, even in the first year, we saw fantastic results. Biodiversity increases really quickly.
After eight years we have birds nesting, dozens of wild animals, including rare green lizards, bees, beetles, wild deer, and rabbits that dart out into the neighboring forest. We have even counted over 60 species of butterfly, which is more than one-third of all butterfly species found in Switzerland.
Butterflies are a particularly good sign of a healthy ecosystem. They are a kind of umbrella species that highlight the health of the overall environment. We’ve got striking, polka-dotted Zygaena ephialtes (which is a moth, actually), leaf-like Commas, and dozens of rare Iolas Blues that live on the 20 or so bladder senna bushes planted around the vineyard. Iolas Blues are one of the most endangered butterfly species in Switzerland, so we are really privileged to be able to protect them. If you visit neighboring vineyards, though, you won’t see more than a couple of species of butterfly at best, whereas here you can spot at least ten species at any time of the year, except winter.
Similarly, you can always find something to eat in the vineyard—salads, strawberries, blackberries, apples, tomatoes... which is just how it should be in a living garden. It is great for creating competition for the vines in the topsoil—forcing their roots deeper—and for providing diverse habitats for both macro- and microbiological life.
We’ve also introduced our own (less wild) life. Our dwarf Ouessant sheep are perfect partners: they’re too small to reach the grapes, but do a great job trimming the green manure and cleaning off the vine trunks, which would otherwise have to be done manually or by machines. Most importantly, though, they increase the soil’s microbial biodiversity and organic content, as the sheep’s gut bacteria (as well as other decomposing bacteria) are introduced into the vineyard through their feces and saliva. This is essential for fighting soil-borne pathogens, resulting in a healthier soil and vineyard.
We also have 30 free-ranging chickens in among our vines, which is an old Roman tradition. They can help disproportionately with the economics of the vineyard, since our 7 acres could potentially house 500 of them, which would be almost more lucrative than the wine itself!
As biodiversity becomes more complex, so too does the nutrient uptake of the vines, which themselves become more and more resistant to pathogens. Animals and insects are a key part of a healthy ecosystem.
The benefits of biodiversity are real and easily achieved. When you work at a desk, from an office, writing procedural papers on how to increase biodiversity, actions quickly become overly complicated. But, if you are outside with your feet on the ground, you see just how easily it can be done. Just sticking to a basic principle like ‘no vine should be more than 50m away from a tree’ will have a radical impact. At ours, we have about 80 trees planted on 2 acres plus the vines, so it is even a little more extreme. Even big vineyards can adapt their setups to this. In Spain, for example, one vineyard I worked with asked me, ‘Why on earth should we plant trees when there isn’t a single other tree for the next 500km, between here and the sea?!’ But they planted them anyway and three years later, they not only noticed the difference, but now swear they’d never do without.”
Wildlife in and around Mythopia’s vines, photographed by Hans-Peter’s friend Patrick Rey, including a Marbled White butterfly, hornet moth, and wall lizard. Patrick spent four years watching, following, and recording life across the seasons, as it blossomed among the vines.