Napa Do-Over Prompts Grape Plant Shortage
Associated Press
Dec 17, 2012
http://www.weather.com/home-garden/garden/napa-grape-plant-shortage-20121217
SAN FRANCISCO — Napa Valley, one of the world’s premier wine growing regions, has an uncommon problem these days: not enough new grapevine root stock is available to supply the massive replanting that’s under way there.
A trifecta of developments has created the critical shortage:
Aging cabernet vines planted after a deadly phylloxera outbreak in the 1980s are due for replacement that was deferred for years as sales of premium wines slumped in the recession.
With demand again strong, growers are taking the opportunity to replace old vines with varieties and clones better suited for their microclimates. Others are reconfiguring rows to prevent erosion into sensitive streams, or to allow mechanical harvesting machinery to access vines.
All of this activity caught commercial nurseries across California short of supply. Some are sold out for 2013 and are taking orders for 2014 and beyond.
“I’ve never seen anything like this,” said Michael Monette of Sunridge Nurseries, one of the industry’s biggest suppliers of plants.“What’s totally phenomenal for me is I’m focusing on 2014 and 2015, which is absolutely nutso. We have no more space in our greenhouses”…
“The defining feature of this movement is the scale at which it is taking place,” said Jennifer Putnam, executive director of the association. “That nurseries are sold out is unprecedented. That an industry is reinvesting in itself right now is a sure sign we’re coming out of the recession.”
Mondavi alone is in the process of planting 1.5 million new vines, she said. One vineyard management company alone removed 8,000 acres this year…
