Because We Can

Several years ago, Phil Freese of Mondavi said this to me, and I have never forgotten it. It is another critical lesson I have followed year after year with great success.

As most growers are aware, there seem to be two schools of thought when it comes to irrigating your vines after veraison. The first believes in short, frequent irrigations close to the vine to better control the vine and the maturation of the fruit. The second believes in long, infrequent irrigations distant from the vine to let the vine develop a larger, more resilient root system. I do not know which school of thought is correct, but I believe Daniel Bosch of Mondavi when he says that in most years, it really doesn’t matter. And I agree that every irrigation strategy must consider climate, location, and soil.

However, the deep, infrequent irrigation strategy seems to work best for us and our vineyard. As Spock thought about chess in Star Trek, I like thinking of our soil in 3 dimensions. By thinking of our vineyard in 3 dimensions, we use every drop of moisture in our soil above the claypan before we begin irrigating to encourage our vines to build large root systems all the way down to the clay pan. As a result, our water use has declined significantly while our quality has actually increased. It also allows us to maintain a perennial cover crop that doesn’t compete with our vines while still producing an adequate financial return. Finally, and most importantly, it allows us to get through the recurring fall heat spikes without our winery clients panicking.

I know that every vineyard and soil type is different when it comes to irrigation, but as with everything, improvements can be made regardless of how small they may seem. And finding the right irrigation strategy for your vineyard is one of those critical lessons.