Ask a viticulturist: Why is my yield so low? Timely canopy management matters.
Ask a Viticulturist: Why is my yield so low? Timely canopy management matters We were recently contacted by a grower distraught over his consistently low yield. This is a producer in the Russian River AVA of Sonoma County who grows exclusively Pinot noir. Yield-quantity is a funny thing for producers of quality grapes destined for […]
Planting a vineyard? Not so fast.
Planting a vineyard? Not so fast. Careful planning of a vineyard is essential to its success. Don’t take shortcuts. By Mark Greenspan The following is reprinted from the June 2018 issue of Wine Business Monthly As a vineyard consultant and vineyard management service provider, I can’t tell you how many people come to us and […]
Mechanized farming: a conversation with Steve Vierra of Derby Wine Estates
Mechanized farming: a conversation with Steve Vierra of Derby Wine Estates Farmers are always looking for ways to make their lives easier through technology and innovation. Who can blame them? Farming is a tough way to make a living and frankly there are some impressive toys out there. Grape-growing tends to lag behind other crops […]
Do consumers care about sustainability?
Do consumers care about sustainability? …does it matter? Here at AV we talk a lot about viticulture. It is, after all, in our name. But we certainly haven’t lost sight of the overall goals of our industry: to make wine. And we don’t just want to make wine, we want to make darn good wine, […]
To till or not to till?
To till or not to till? The trend is towards less tillage, but could it be detrimental to vineyards? The following is from an article originally published in Wine Business Monthly in June of 2019. Read the original here. I recently attended a tour of some vineyards in central Spain. I had been to Spain […]
2021 was a good year…to dry farm??
2021 was a good year…to dry farm?? More reasons to consider monitoring your soil moisture Between stunted growth to unexpected nutrient deficiencies, this second consecutive year of drought threw us quite a few curve balls. One thing people aren’t expecting to hear though is that some places haven’t needed to irrigate all season. That’s right. […]
Ask a viticulturist: Unexplained splitting of the trunk
Ask a viticulturist: Unexplained splitting of the trunk Could this be winter injury in California? We recently got a call out to a vineyard in the Russian River AVA of Sonoma county to take a look at something weird: unexplained splitting of the bark on the rootstock portion (O39-16 was the most affected) of young […]
New regulation is coming. Invest now in improving your water management.
New regulation is coming Invest now in improving your water management There’s nothing farmers love more than government regulation, am I right? And there’s nothing this viticulturist loves more than legal rhetoric. That is of course why I violently sobbed into my textbook during the semester I studied food and beverage law in undergrad: my […]
What’s cooking? How early heat stress affects your harvest
What’s cooking? How early heat stress affects your vineyard By Loni Lyttle and Mark Greenspan Heat stress can do a lot of damage, and in many ways the earlier it hits, the worse it’s going to be. Here in Sonoma County, we got hit hard in June with a heat wave. We recorded cluster-zone air […]
Fear not! Potassium is your friend
Fear not! Potassium is your friend Holding off on K fertilization may be damaging your wine quality There’s a lot of headbutting between grape growers and winemakers. I get why. Lush green canopies with active shoot tips mid-July look pretty, but they don’t usually make good wine. On the other hand, leaner vines with drastically […]