Yes, it’s raining in California.  Mudslides, levees breaking, roads washing away, trees falling…....it’s almost as if Mother Earth is trying to wash us off like a bunch of fleas.  But aside from us and our complaints about the weather, how are the vines doing through all of this?

With Pinot Noir and Chardonnay in this area, budbreak occurred a number of weeks ago in the Salinas Valley, and within the last 10 days at Hilltop Ranch in Carmel Valley.  Budbreak is when the leaves in the buds on a grapevine “pop” open and the shoots then begin to grow.  Some vineyards I visited in the Salinas Valley recently have shoots that are 2 or more inches long already.

 March was one of the coldest and wettest months in Monterey County on record.  So, in some spots, there was a good amount of frost damage concern.  Our estate vineyard in Carmel Valley, though only about 13 miles from the ocean, can get frosty in spring, so our vineyard managers are up very earlier in the morning on those days to get the frost protection system going.  On the ranch we have a pond that is filled by well water.  When there is a frost alarm then someone has to get out of their nice, warm bed to turn on the pump that moves the water from the pond to the sprinkler system to protect all of the new buds on the vines from freezing.

                                                    

Then, there’s the rain.  What effect does the rain have on the vines?  It is really a matter of waiting to see the effect.  The vines will probably be more vigorous and tend to produce more vegetative growth (ie leaves and shoots).  In addition to water on the ground now, there will probably be more retained water in the ground in the future, so that the vines will remain vigorous as they tap into any available groundwater.  Last year the weather in the spring was similar to what we are experiencing this year.  We had a good amount of rain, and as a result, some growers didn’t have to start irrigating until well into the season—sometimes after veraison (the point at which grapes start to turn color and ripen)—while still dealing with very strong, vegetative growth.

 Another potential effect of moisture is for the development of molds, mildews and eventually rot.  The combination of simply having more moisture in the ground and on the leaves and vine (higher humidity), as well as increased vegetative growth (less sun exposure, less potential air circulation, more contact between leaves, etc.) are conditions that can give rise to the growth of unwanted mycological villains.  So, as soon as a tractor can pass through a vineyard without getting stuck, and the weather forecast calls for clear skies for awhile, most vineyard managers will be ready to spray sulfur on the vines to make sure these things don’t take hold.

Good vineyard managers in Monterey are used to dealing with the prospect of molds and mildews.  High quality grapes, generally, cost more here because farming costs tend to be a little higher than in other areas of the state.  Why?  Because most good growers tend to go through their vineyards more often during the growing season to spray sulfur, and maybe other fungicides or pesticides as well, as a matter of course because the climate here tends to be cooler and generally more humid due to the extreme maritime influence we experience here. 

So, whatever the weather, growers here are generally prepared.  It is just a matter of letting Mother Nature do her thing and unveil what another growing season will bring, if she doesn’t wash us away first.

This entry was posted on Thursday, April 6th, 2006 at 11:41 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.