VASCM: Article from Wine Industry Advisor

[Prudy Foxx]

I especially appreciate Glenn Proctors’  (from Ciatti) comment about the importance of not overreacting.  As we all know California is the land of extremes and we have no hard data to say what sort of climatic conditions the next two months will bring.  Pay attention to the soil moisture content of your soil in real time and stay tuned.  Remember that you can always remove more vine as the season progresses but you can’t put it back ones taken off.


Recent Rain Does Little to Alleviate Drought in Northern California

Wine Industry Not “Overreacting” to Dry Conditions

By Elizabeth Hans McCrone




While many welcomed the light storm system that dampened North Coast skies last weekend, the resulting moisture did little to alleviate drought concerns among the agricultural communities throughout northwestern California.

The Santa Rosa Press Democrat reported that just .08 of an inch of rain fell at Sonoma County’s regional airport on Saturday and dry conditions are expected to persist throughout the area for the next seven to 10 days.

The impact of such an abnormally dry year is raising eyebrows and concerns within the wine industry, which counts on winter storms to replenish the valuable groundwater systems that sustain grapevine crops into the spring and summer months ahead. What the drought conditions will actually mean for the California wine business is still largely a matter of speculation, but some are taking precautionary measures in case things get a whole lot worse.

“It’s a new reality,” admits Mark Greenspan, a Water Management Specialist with Advanced Viticulture. “In my experience, we’ve never had a dry period like this before.”

Greenspan said in more typical years, North Coast vineyard soils are filled to capacity by this time in the season. He estimates it takes about a foot of rain within a month to two month time period to achieve that, which gives the vines a large reservoir of water to draw on until July, August or even September.

“This year we may start off the season without a full profile of water,” Greenspan said. “If that occurs, we’ll have to irrigate earlier than normal to counteract.”

Greenspan says other drought mitigation measures include tilling cover crops into the soil to remove competition for water from the grapes. While those lush crops act to stabilize soil with erosion protection and provide plants with valuable soil nutrients, they too require water resources, which, Greenspan says “in a dry year … is your enemy.”

Greenspan also mentioned limiting vine size to reduce water usage and, if the situation becomes more serious, he says viticulturists may choose to cutback on overall vineyard crop size.

“That’s the part everybody is shuddering about,” he says. “But if we don’t get enough water, we’ll have to conserve wherever we can – and that may include thinning crop.”

Glenn Proctor is a partner in the Ciatti Company, a global wine and grape brokerage business for more than 40 years. He cautions against overreacting to California’s current drought conditions, pointing out that it’s still early in the season.

“If we get some healthy rains in the next three weeks, we’re not going to be talking about this,” Proctor says.


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