Bay Vieux Briefs
DROUGHT DECLARATION LIKELY TO HIT GRAPEGROWERS HARD
June 5 – Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has made official what everyone already knew: California is in a drought. In declaring the first statewide drought in nearly 2 decades, the Governator has warned all Californians, including grapegrowers, to prepare for sharp cutbacks in water use. There’s even talk of mandatory rationing. For grapegrowers, the implications of the drought, especially if it continues, are enormous. “Some [grape] farmers will have to make a decision about how to keep vineyards alive,” especially in the Central Valley, says Karen Ross, president of the California Association of Grape Growers. In coastal grapegrowing areas such as Sonoma, Mendocino and Napa, where rivers like the Russian and Napa provide the source of much irrigation water, growers are facing not only lower river levels from the drought, but recent environmental decisions to balance the needs of fish. “This is creating really difficult issues,” Ross warns. Andy Beckstoffer, a major grapegrower in the North Coast, acknowledges increased water restrictions in the future. “We all know it’s coming, the amount of water you can pull out of private wells.” He adds, chillingly, that growers who used all their water to combat April’s massive frost “are going to be in big trouble” later this summer.
IT’S ALMOST OFFICIAL – COASTAL CALIFORNIA IS GETTING COLDER, NOT HOTTER
I’ve been thinking that for the last 3-1/2 years, since the cool 2005 vintage. 2006 and 2007 were also cool to chilly. Then, this past April, California had its worst grape freeze in more than 30 years. I asked my friend Steve Paulson, the weatherman on our local Fox affiliate TV station here in Oakland, if California is getting colder, and he replied, “You’re treading on controversial ground but valid nevertheless.” And now, today, the San Francisco Chronicle reports that the National Weather Service says San Francisco has recorded a monthly average high temperature that was below normal for the last 14 months in a row! I don’t know what it all means, but if the coast is cooling off, that could be good news for grapes. Stay tuned.
