California Drought - Wine Harvest???

[richmke]

California is in a drought. Water allocations are being cut by 50%, and some sales are being eliminated entirely.

Any thoughts on how that will affect the Vineyards, and overall supply of grapes in the fall? Should we stock up on kits, or is there enough world supply of grapes that other places can more than supply the demand?

 

[Deezil]

I think its going to be a crash-course on mixing in some 'Dryland Farming' practices, as well as not being too greedy from the growers perspective; pushing the plants to ripen too many clusters just ruins the whole vine.

Maybe they'll understand that the days of flood irrigation are long, long, long over

Not only do they have to keep what they have alive, but they have to allow time to replenish the streams, lakes, rivers and most importantly, aquifers.

It'll be a "world of hurt".. Maybe literally..

Luckily, grapes "should" be the least-effected. Tree fruits will probably suffer way worse.. Just the nature of the plants..

 

[spaniel]

I think grapes will likely be less affected than most other plants. We had a really rough drought in 2012, one of the worst ever here, and my grape yields were still about 60% of a really good year. Granted that on a commercial scale that's a big drop.

I took my first drive through California's Central Valley this past summer. I'd always heard about how much they grew there, and on most maps its a green valley. So I naively assumed that due to the way the mountains affect the weather, the valley got rain. Boy was I surprised. Countless acres of every type of vegetable, orchard, and grape imaginable, all growing in the middle of a desert under irrigation. And every 100 yards there's a sign complaining about the cuts of water. Then you drive up into the mountains and see the reservoirs, hundreds of feet below their intended level.

The whole system is ridiculous. Deserts are not meant to be farmed.