Vineyards and water rationing

The News Guru’s keep reporting on the upcoming water rationing and it being mandatory in parts of Sonoma Co already. What is going to happen in your vineyards if/when this takes place? It sure doesn’t look like we have much rain on the horizon.

Buy a piece of property where you can secure water rights to a natural source and then plant there.

Of course this is easier said than done.

Was January not very productive from a total rainfall perspective for you? It seemed that we had a good solid week of rain here, and more on the way Thursday.

That little bit of rain didn’t dent the 3 year drought that is sure to continue. The Sierra snow pack is still real low which is why the rationing is about to begin. It’s going to be all over. Sonoma is the tip of the iceberg.

Nope, nothing to speak of… it was like having to pee real bad and nothing happened I think Napa is only at about 50% if we’re lucky

Same here, Carrie. Every time we see rain on the weather sites, we look out the window and it’s just a spiff. Lately, the projections are just a tease.

Buy 10,000 50 gal plastic drums and start collecting water now. Then when rationed you have your storehouse.

We have our own wells, but one of the vineyard’s well will probably run dry earlier this year than in the past. It’s always been a bum well… came on strong and then petered out.

(That’s what she said.)
:oops:

We usually end up buying truckloads of water from August on. This year, I bet those trucks are even more expensive.

I don’t know of any vineyards that are on city water systems. I think we ALL have our own wells. Vineyard water sources depend on the depth of the well and the health of the underlying water aquifer.

Fortunately (or wisely, as we picked our site precisely for this reason) the soils of the central coast are calcareous, with lots of underlying limestone. Limestone provides superior drainage during rains, and has the unique property of wicking it back up during hot weather. Our zinfandel vineyard is head pruned and dry farmed. That means there is no irrigation suppy at all. Our syrah needs only a gallon per vine before heat spikes.

As far as water, we are not too concerned about the vineyard as we have planned and planted for drought cycles. Our farming practices incorporate mulching, composting and the use of cover crops to sustain the health of our soil and conserve water. But we are worried about the house, lawn and garden. (I will change the selection of my garden plantings this year, and probably move the tomato plot down to the creekbed, where the topsoil is deeper and there is a little ground moisture.)

In normal years, our property receives 20 inches of rain, which equals over 5 million gallons of water. Our estimated annual usage for our dryfarmed walnut orchard and vineyard, including home use, is less than 400,000 gallons. The remaining 4.5 million gallons fill a seasonal creek and pond, and contribute to our local water table.

We had a rather hardcore rain in the middle of the night last night - how about you winemakers?

Still sprinkling, too…

I’m not a winemaker but we have had some steady rains in the Napa Valley overnight and it’s still sprinkling now. The forecast is for it to continue on and off today with a break Saturday and then a colder system coming in for Sunday & Monday, they said snow levels will be down to 2500 ft.

we hear snow here in The Foothills to 2-3000ft Sunday/Monday too. had hellacious rain last night ~0215. we need more precipitation for sure!

We are having some really heavy downpours right now. If we get the rain that the Weather service is talking about it sure will help. This is suppose to continue on & off through next Tues.

Carrie, would you post some weather notes in the Vintage 2009: Napa thread, too? You seem to be the only Berserker in Napa looking out the window this month!