Dry Farming

An article from today’s LA Times, about dry farming wine grapes:

Bruce

My thoughts have always been that if you need to irrigate, then you’ve planted in the wrong spot.

Hmmmm…does that Zin vine at CanardVnyd look like a century-old Zin vine to you??

It’s nice to see that the article’s author consulted w/ JamesLaube…one of Calif’s foremost authorities on grape growing!!
Tom

+1

Including during establishment of newly planted vines?

Let’s just say that the typical annual rainfall in much of Oregon is a tad bit heavier than in much of CA.

Bruce

I believe you should be able to irrigate for a short period of time, around 3 years, until the young vines take hold. Then no more irrigation.

That’s pretty damning of most of your neighbors to the south and the north, isn’t it?

edit: That would include a huge perentage of all New World vineyards, in fact.

Controlled water deficits, beyond that its random. Control or random, take your pick.

Because, too much is too much and too little is too little.

How does someone predict precipitation patterns for decades or longer in an era of climate change?

This is certainly a topic that is fraught with a lot of strong opinions and certainly has financial and public relation implications involved for farmers and wineries that fall on both side of the aisle. I think it a bit of a shame that the focus in this article was so limited as there are a number of wineries around California working hard to develop new vineyards in a dry-farmed manner and returning older vineyards that were originally planted in such a manner to return to dry-farming. Both are a process and at this point I would venture to guess that less than 1% of California’s vineyards are dry-farmed.

The reality is though that a large majority of vineyards in California were developed, fundamentally, on the expectation of water being available and in steady supply. The tightly spaced planting vogue that has dominated much high-end planting is largely based on building small plants with shallower root systems on devigorating rootstocks (and many times in soils so sparse or rocky that they would not be able to be farmed in a dry-farmed manner). Rather then seeing this as a problem many see this as an advantage as the vegetative growth, plant size, berry-sizing, overall plant health etc. can essentially be controlled by when irrigation is applied (along with the fertigation inputs).

Dry-farming takes a lot of the mid-season flexibility out of the equation. Yes, you can use foliar sprays for micronutrient application (which are costly and somewhat controversial as to their effectiveness) but much of what needs to be done is based on vineyard lay-out (typically more widely spaced to lessen vine competition), site selection (choosing a site that has enough water holding capacity to support growth), and I would argue forces a greater focus on overall soil health (good texture, tilth, friability, microflora populations which play a critical and synergistic effect in nutrient uptake) as vines need to extract everything from developing broad root systems rather than living in the expectation of irrigation and fertigation inputs. There have been several studies recently that have showed that a 1% increase in soil organic matter (which is a lot) can increase water holding capacity by 14-18k gallons per acre.

There is also a lot of gray area between these two sides. There are great farmers who tend to develop modern, tightly-spaced vineyards who also put a large focus on compost, cover crops, and other soil amendments in an attempt to minimize chemical fertilizer inputs though not fully being able to shut off the water. Also, the sheer financial impact cannot be understated, particularly in those vineyards where the vast majority of wine made in the U.S. comes from- if you are getting paid $500 a ton for your fruit the extra couple years it takes to develop dry-farmed vineyards, the lower crops, the additional handwork and handholding to ensure that vines are balanced, just don’t add up for many who are trying to put bread on their table.

I personally am a strong believer in dry-farming whenever and wherever possible. We are developing our young Zinfandel and Grenache in a dry-farmed manner (hand-watering is necessary for the first few years), and are working on backing off and stopping irrigation inputs on all of the old vine vineyards we work with that are not already dry-farmed. To me, it is the most sustainable solution from an environmental standpoint and for us, since we realize a solid price for our wines and have a strong mailing list which boosts margins, it is financially sustainable. I also think that wine quality tends to be better in most cases. However, I don’t think there is an absolute right or absolute wrong- particularly for farmers that do not get to grow in areas that realize high grape prices.

That said, you look at the number of vineyards that are still flood or furrow irrigated in places like Lodi and the Central Valley and one would hope that farmers would take better advantage of the few subsidies offered (and perhaps more should be offered) to utilize more water efficient irrigation such as drip or subsurface drip. It still uses water but quite a bit less.

And let’s not even get started on the water use for almonds…

For some reason Old World, blue chip wines have been dry farmed for a long, long time.

Those are some great thoughts, Morgan, thanks.

I am certainly no expert in this stuff, but I do have a bit of experience here on my small ranch. My vines, planted by the previous owner, grew up with regular irrigation. When I bought my property 15 years ago, the owners were absentee owners who had the irrigation set up on a timer. Whether it needed it or not, that vineyard got water, and plenty of it. My guess is that the roots did not strive to go down deep, finding plenty of water closer to the surface. Now, as adults, they have a different water requirement than the vines down the street that have never received anything but nature’s rainfall.

I have cut way back in how much water these vines receive. Way back. But I am not going to replant the entire vineyard and wait those years for it to come into production as dry-farmed, just to dry-farm. Neither am I going to risk a harvest of low yields due to what becomes unhealthy water deficit.

But am I mindful of the differences and the responsibilities regarding water uses? Absolutely. I can tell you it absolutely drives me crazy when I see vineyards in the area wetting down (using water) to keep the dust down on their long driveways past their gates.

Thanks, Morgan and Merrill, for your insights. I don’t see any reason to be doctrinaire about irrigating. The issue is the quality of the ultimate fruit, right? Just because grapes can be plumped up and dilute, or the root structures are suboptimal, because of excessive irrigation doesn’t imply to me (a complete lay person) that it’s inherently bad even if done in moderation.

Because most of the traditional top growing areas in France, Germany, Austria and Northern Italy have plenty of rainful over the course of the year. Also, I think the prohibitions were based on concerns about the quality of the lowest grades of wine.

Which brings me back to my original post.

Todd – I feel that way about wineries that have to water back their wine because they don’t feel it can get ripe enough below an excessive Brix level. But I don’t feel the same way about irrigating. I like the idea of dry farming, but there are lost of excellent wines from California and very few are dry farmed. Perhaps more would be even better if dry farmed; I don’t know. But it doesn’t seem like an absolute thing to me.

Actually, Healdsburg gets about the same annual rainfall as McMinnville.

Imagine this conversation being about other fruits/vegetables.

John - I think you are correct: it is not an absolute thing. But I am not sure if mixing the conversation about watering back (which is done for a number of reasons) and dry-farming is the way to go here. We can talk about it, but I think the only connector here is some sort of “manipulation,” whether in the vineyard or in the winery. And to the consumer, I am not certain it should matter.

To the environment? Yes. Water usage and misuse is everyone’s business, I think. How a winemaker gets a wine into bottle for your consumption? Whether watering back for volume, or to ensure a smooth fermentation, or to achieve a specific flavor profile envisioned only by long hangtimes? I am not sure it is of consequence. Note I did not say it is of no consequence…I said I am not sure.

Personally? I irrigate my vines when I get “the sign.” Those drawn, dull-looking leaves - you know it when you see it. After awhile, managing a vineyard, you “get it” before that appears visually. It’s a gut feel, and based on a number of factors. And although I typically pick in the 24-25B zone, I’ll add enough water to ensure we don’t have any problems going through fermentation.

Again, I do not pretend to be an expert nor speak for others regarding their reasons for growing or making wine the way they do. But I do have some experience in decision-making to get to the end product.

Those that water back each year are out of balance as well, which leads me to believe that they too have planted in the wrong spot.