A question was asked to us recently that we thought could start a great Q&A from our supporters, customers, or anyone else who might be just curious to know a little more about wine strait from the proverbial horse's(aka wine maker's) mouth.
A few weeks back we ran across an article about a well known wine maker starting a new operation in near San Louis Obispo, CA. Nothing special here except for the fact that they want to dry farm there. San Louis Obispo, though very fertile in terms of soil conditions, is not quite a desert but it doesn't receive nearly as much rain as the nearby Santa Cruz Mountains growing region plus it doesn't get a whole lot of fog.
This poses the question: What did Jim, our wine maker in fertile, rainy, Hopland think of this endeavor.
First of all, dry-farming is a technique which deserves a whole separate posting itself but the short of it is; farming without the use of irrigation. This would be an ideal situation in say, France, where A: growers aren't able to use irrigation due to regulation, and B: it rains during the summer months. California's climate is different and grape growing practices are much less regulated than France.
Back to the original question, Is this winemaker crazy to think he can dry-farm in an area which receives about 14” per year compared to Hopland, which receives about 36”? Here was his response:
'Very interesting………….Sometimes it actually makes a difference in the wine. Most of the time it just sells the wine. The odds of him being able to dry farm (successfully) in an area where the annual rainfall is that low, are lower than the annual rainfall. That is why until modern times grapes were only grown in temperate Mediterranean climates where they got natural rainfall and good ground water. Now if you have a water table that is at 10 feet you wouldn’t need to irrigate much after the first few years. Maybe he plans on letting them suffer once they grow up.'
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