Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/100792
Nat DiBuduo, president and CEO of Allied Grape Growers, confirmed a shortage of grafted vines. ���As far as the nurseries that I���ve talked to, one still has some grafted vines available for 2013,��� he said. ���But most of that kind of vine is probably sold out for 2013.��� However, there are still vines to be had from certain nurseries, if buyers are willing to be flexible in their choice of rootstocks. NURSERY INVESTMENTS At Vintage Nurseries in Wasco, Calif., sales director Dustin Hooper said his company speculated on an increase in demand to good effect. The company had expanded in the late 1990s and early 2000s during the last big wave of planting, leaving it with a surplus of mother blocks when things tapered off. ���Our owners have been doing this since 1989, and this is the third upswing they���ve seen,��� Hooper said. ���We had the mother blocks ready, and we hadn���t fully used those to capacity in a number of years. ���We were already getting calls back in February and March 2012 that other nurseries were out of vines. Also, there were articles that said, ���No more vines in 2013,��� and we wondered how they could know Expanding mother blocks in anticipation of increased demand is paying off for Vintage Nurseries. that when people hadn���t even finished planting their crops yet.��� After talking to some major wineries and asking for their input, Vintage Nurseries decided to plant in the idle mother blocks, in anticipation of new demand. ���It���s definitely paid off,��� Hooper said. Vintage Nurseries still has a ���good collection��� of vines available, according to Hooper. ���It may not be the exact combination that the owner would prefer, but a lot of times there is not one end-all, be-all L rootstock or combination,��� he said. ���Usually it���s more like four or five combinations that would generally work. People can get stuck on a certain rootstock because they���ve been using that certain rootstock, and they���ve never heard of the other options. ���The market being as demanding as it is, a lot of the premium stocks are already long gone for next year and for the following year. So growers have to look at their options. Do I wait until 2014 ��� pos- CE STAB�� STABILITY OF WINES EFFECTIVE CLARITY CELSTAB�� is a highly-purified, low viscosity solution of cellulose gum that has been specially selected and refined to provide complete potassium bitartrate stabilization in white and ros�� wines. As both energy costs and concern for the environment rise ever higher, LAFFORT has drawn on its vast enological knowledge to provide the global wine industry with another highly efficient, low energy option for tartaric stabilization. LAFFORT U.S.A. - 1460 Cader Lane, Suite C Petaluma, CA 94954 - laffortusa@laffort.com - (707) 775-4530 ��� www.laffortusa.com St HELENA STORE - 1309 Main Street, Suite C ��� St Helena CA 94574 - (707) 967-8290 w w w. v w m media.com J a n - F e b 2 0 13 | V I N E YA R D & W I N E RY M A N A G E M E N T 65