Five years ago, Winery Dogs was formed in New York City and became an American rock supergroup, but that’s not the Winery Dogs we’re talking about. Our Winery Dogs cavort through vineyards, greet guests in tasting rooms, and occasionally steal a ripe grape to play with (but not to eat! PetMD points out that grapes and raisins are toxic for dogs!). The dogs can be found in Napa Valley, Sonoma, Oregon, Central California and New York, and an homage to these dogs has been created in a series of hardcover photography books called, “Winery Dogs.”

Dogs, however, can have a serious use in a vineyard, as well. Brettanomyces is a yeast that can live in the wood of oak wine barrels, machinery and other surfaces in wineries, and it can produce undesirable flavors in wine. In Australia, Sonja Needs, a researcher at the University of Melbourne, started training her German Shepherd, “Luther,” and Border Terrier, “Keely,” to smell this potential problem in vineyards and wineries. In The Weekly Times, Needs says, “Dogs have a greater sensitivity to volatile molecules than most mobile gas chromatography detectors, and they can sort and discriminate scents where machines have difficulty.”

A dog’s vomeronasal organ in the roof of their mouth give them the advantage of detecting hormones and pheromones, and in time, Needs hopes that dogs can detect phylloxera, an insect that feeds on the roots of vineyards, and the best part of the lifecycle for dogs to detect it.

Image of French Bulldog found on Pinterest and happily credited upon receipt of information. Photo of “Keely” from an article a University of Melbourne article on Sonja Needs