Central Coast Vineyards Cope With Drought

(Wines&Vines) - It didn’t take Gov. Brown’s official proclamation last week for California residents to know there is a drought. With no significant rain during the last year—and none forecast for the next 10 days—the air and the ground are dry. Wine country hillsides normally begin to green with the earliest winter rains, but now remain a desiccated, dusty, depressing brown.

Michael Anderson, state climatologist with the California Department of Water Resources, quoted a letter from National Resources Conservation Service district conservationist Rich Casale, who minced no words: “The previous historic dry records have been completely demolished, being shattered by very large deficit numbers which are staggering with complications for the future health and wellbeing of the California economy and California ag….The news thus far this season for water is dismal at best. It would require biblical, epic-type rainfall across California to mitigate the damage.…California water supply is heading for severe restrictions…a truly historic, unprecedented drought.”

Following the driest year on record, what can grapegrowers do if 2014 continues the pattern?

Fritz Westover, technical program manager for the Vineyard Team (formerly Central Coast Vineyard Team) in Atascadero, Calif., told Wines & Vines how members are coping.

“Some, however not all, growers have reported a reduction in crop and canopy size due to the dry conditions over the past two years,” he said. “With little rainfall occurring in the area, it is safe to presume that the root systems of vines are ever-decreasing in size, and root activity is mostly limited to the zone of wetness in irrigated vineyards.