Standing water is not a great judge of rainfall, more likely it shows compacted soils or clay layers. The numbers don’t lie, we’re all in a heap of hurt.
Yikes! 7:30 pm and it’s already 39 out there!
I was up that way today, and that seemed to be the case-- a lot wetter in Rutherford than in SF, southern Napa or Marin. I think Napa is at its best with a storm brewing. It was really spectacular this afternoon.
31 and thick fog this morning. We are too far ahead on our pruning. A layoff is coming. Going to cut the crew back to my resident folks only, about a 20%. Still plenty of work, just want to have steady work for my main crew.
Sign of the times. One of our 8 reservoirs. This one usually spills over by new years. Bumming in Mendo.
Here comes another underwhelming series of storms. Thursday will be the best day over the next week with .75" predicted. That just won’t cut it. I talked to two other farmers in my area this week and each said they have a third of their normal water stored or even less.
Oh God I just looked up at my last post. I was going to say an underwhelming .70" storm, yet I used underwhelming in the previous post. I’m seriously… beyond seriously concerned about the coming year. Talked to my brother…works for Roederer, and when I stated talking drought, his face went blank.
I’m sure some of you think I’m some kind of alarmist, but in my line of work you live with these things DAILY. A drought is something that goes away quickly. All of my piers in this business are terrified. Yes, there’s still time to make up the deficit but I’ve heard that shit before.
One possible bright spot is talk of our friend ‘la nina’ might be on her way out.
I understand where you’re coming from and I don’t think you’re an alarmist at all. I haven’t been paying close attention to the numbers but it has really been noticeably dry this winter.
It’s particularly bad for the Anderson Valley since the wineries rely on local water, rather than sources fed by snow melt in the Sierras.
-Al
Our biggest issue in AV is that were the coldest appellation in CA and the only one that has frost every year. Water is preferred for frost protection via overhead sprinklers. Ever since the beginning of the "13-'15 drought fans have been installed all over the valley even though they only work for about 1/3 of our frost events at best. As well light rain years lead to early bud break and more frost events. Frost season lasts thru May, I have lost tomatoes to frost in early June, so when bud break is in Feb not March we have almost an additional month we need to frost protect.
At least August harvests are happening in Burgundy too, so its not just AV.
Light winter = early bud break = more frost = less crop = August pick dates with 20-40% lower crop loads = great wines = less money and more stress for farmers
Late yesterday after a day of drizzle Zip and I went for a pre-dinner walk. The cover crop is about the only thing happy with the weather. It’s certainly received enough to make it pretty strong. Zip is about 14" at the shoulder. I have other fields not as robust as this one.
We got a lot of rain. Cover crop looks great - holding tank is full. I am not worried. And if I get worried, there are solutions.
It’s not even March and I think all of my fruit is spoken for.
Casey is that in part do to how so many wineries dealt with smoke taint issues last year and saw how AV was able to deliver clean fruit in 2020?
St Helena this morning. The vines are practically drowning in a sea of yellow. On the other hand, that blue sky you see is all we have in the forecast for the next 10 days at least, and the burn scars are still looking pretty dilapidated.
Dude, I’m thinking it’s about my amazing skillz as a grape grower! Seriously people are looking ahead and have a need for product. I will admit that Naked wines has become a big client. Their biz model with consumer direct sales has played perfectly with the Covid situation.
We won’t ask about what they ask you to do in marketing promos.
-Al
Al you are right. Nobody wants my opinion anymore… especially the marketing folks.
Dude, I was referring to the nekkid part.
-Al
Jeez Casey the grape growing part is a given. Thanks for the answer ![[cheers.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/0/0ff9bfcdb0964982cd3240b6159868fbdf215b1a.gif "cheers"){kind=small}