Dry farming, drought topics attract area winegrowers

Dry farming and irrigating wine grapes more efficiently during droughts were among topics covered at a recent Ramona Valley Winery Association (RVWA) workshop.

RVWA president Victor Edwards organized the program, and Triple B Ranches winery hosted it in Valley Center to accommodate the 60 attendees.

Speakers included Professor Andy Walker of University of California Davis’ Department of Viticulture and Enology; David Runsten, policy director for the Community Alliance with Family Farmers (CAFF); and Chris Broomell, who has a two-year-old dry-farmed vineyard at his family’s Triple B ranch.

The subject matter was considered especially timely for area growers wishing to plant wine grapes in Ramona Valley, or anywhere in Southern California, with the goal of using the least amount of water possible.

Walker explained rootstock selections that can tolerate drought changes with low to no irrigation, and his new research covers salinity tolerance, as well. He discussed common pitfalls when selecting rootstocks available from winegrape nurseries and which ones work best with less water, based upon soil and location influences.

Runsten presented “best management practices” on dry farming wine grapes. In addition, he provided up-to-date information on irrigation efficiency topics ranging from row spacing to yield and tillage issues.

During Walker’s second topic of discussion, he shared sample wines made from the results of his many years of research toward developing vines that are resistant to Pierce’s Disease (PD). PD blocks the water-transporting system within a vine, causing it to die within one to five years.

The disease is transmitted vine-to-vine by the glassy-winged sharpshooter, an insect that is present in Ramona. It’s thought to be the same disease that wiped out vineyards throughout Southern California and was called “Anaheim Disease,” named for the city in which it first appeared during the 1850s.

Many workshop participants came from Temecula, where they are not strangers to the disease. PD caused $13 million worth of losses, damaging 25 percent of Temecula’s 3,000 vineyard acres during the late ‘90s.

It is not eradicated, just managed at this point, but these new hybrid vines with PD immunity offer a new commercially viable option.

Broomell ended the program with a Q&A session, sharing his experiences at dry farming within San Diego County and his personal rootstock selections.

Area vineyard groups from Ramona, San Diego County and Temecula attended the workshop at no cost. The event was made possible by CAFF, with grant sponsorship from the California Department of Water Resources. More information is at caff.org/programs/sustainability/, agwaterstewards.org/index.php/practices/dry_farming/ and ramonavalleywineries.org.