After the flood…
After the flood… What does soil moisture look like after two weeks of rain? In the last couple of months, California has been hit with a lot more water than we’re used to. Here in Sonoma County we’ve had excesses of 18” of rain and that was just since January 1st. Other parts of the […]
Looking like a great year (for trunk disease)
Looking like a great year (for trunk disease) Sorry to be a Negative Nancy… The recent rain we’ve been getting is certainly a welcome change for us in California. Wet weather does, however, present other challenges especially going into the pruning season. That’s right. I’m talking about trunk disease. It’s everywhere, and like viruses, growers […]
Why was yield low this year?
Why was yield low this year? All over California, tonnage came up shy Not to state the obvious… There are a lot of factors contributing to the low yield this year. Let’s address the most glaringly obvious one: things got hot. September temperatures reached over 105° in many parts of the state and stayed that […]
Investigating Low-Volume Approaches to Vineyard Cooling
Investigating Low-Volume Approaches to Vineyard Cooling High heat can damage both fruit and foliage. A group in Napa is investigating alternatives to overhead impact sprinklers. By Mark Greenspan The following has been reprinted from and article in Wine Business Monthly 2009. Read the original article here. In last month’s column I indicated that a survey […]
Countdown to harvest: How should I be irrigating?
Countdown to harvest: How should I be irrigating? Don’t cut off water just yet… You know it’s harvest season when the winemakers emerge from their cavernous abodes and start making appearances in the vineyard. It’s a magical time, I mean, sometimes they bring donuts! But they also bring with them some funny ideas about irrigation […]
Ask a Viticulturist: Cut from the same shade cloth
Ask a Viticulturist: Cut from the same shade cloth Does color really matter? With the dramatic ups and downs of the climate, shade cloth is rapidly becoming a necessity here in California. I’ve written a bit about shade cloth before, but recently we were asked by a client if colored shade cloth made any difference. […]
Breaking down frost protection
Breaking down frost protection If you can’t get out of it, get into it Frost season was particularly brutal up and down the West Coast this year. With continued early springs brought on by climate change (or the chem trails…eyeroll) it looks like this may be something we just need to get used to. So […]
Is Regenerative the New Biodynamic?
Is Regenerative the new Biodynamic? Is this just another buzzword or is there meat on those bones? By Mark Greenspan and Loni Lyttle The following is reprinted from Wine Business Monthly’s July 2021 Issue. Read the original article here. The wine industry is particularly susceptible to buzzwords. Terms like “terroir” and “minerality” may be nebulous, […]
Herbicide-free algae control
Herbicide-free algae control Ultrasonic technology keeps the blooms at bay Algae blooms can be a big problem, especially for those in the wine industry. Runoff containing fertilizer from the vineyard or nutrients from wine production can wash into your surface water and cause an microbiological explosion. It’s hazardous to your health, it kills off other […]
Groundhog day: 2022 is looking a lot like 2021
Groundhog day: 2022 is looking a lot like 2021 Let’s take a look at the soil moisture, shall we? Things certainly were looking up a few months ago, amiright? Harvest ended. Nothing in Sonoma or Napa caught fire. And we even got rain! A lot of it. Here in Windsor, California we finished out 2021 […]