It seems you can’t go five minutes without mention of the drought. Drought is here and it’s severe. Living in wine country, I was curious how drought is affecting one of our major industries. I visited with Nick Palumbo, owner/winemaker at Palumbo Family Vineyards & Winery and asked him what he sees as far as drought’s affect on his operation.
“It’s no news to us” he told me. Winemakers have been practicing RDI or Regulated Deficit Irrigation for years. As an industry, wine growers have been proactive and even though drought is “all the rage” now, they’ve been practicing water saving techniques for ages. Wine grapes don’t require a lot of water. In fact, growers intentionally “stress” their vines by holding water back to produce fruit with more intense flavors.
As a California Certified Sustainable Winegrower, Nick has been making a conscious choice to produce better quality wine. He likens the difference between quality growers and the low end/high volume producers to a long distance runner versus a prize fighter. With water prices on the rise, he notes, the high volume wineries will be forced to use less water and as a result will produce better wines. He adds that an acre of wine grapes uses less water than an acre of homes.
Temecula wine country is transitioning from ag water to city water and the ag rates they’ve enjoyed for decades will soon vanish. Wine grape growers are practicing regulated deficits. With technology at their disposal, they know exactly when they need to water and how much water they need.
“We’re hawkish about poor use of water” says Joe Hart, founder of Hart Winery, who planted his first vines in Temecula in 1974.
He told me he watches for water running down the driveway. They’ve gone through their irrigation system and cleaned up leaks. “We’re about as efficient as we can be.” Winegrowers are at the cutting edge of water conservation. While praying for a wet winter, winemakers here aren’t overly concerned about how the drought will affect the wines they produce.
