Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/72545
THE CASE OF THE VANISHING VINES Viticulturist Amy E. Warnock thought something was up when the nurseries she works with started urging her to get her 2012 orders in early. And she absolutely knew change was in the air when they started telling her to get those 2013 orders in, too. Turns out, every silver lining has its cloud; an upturn in wine indus- try fortunes has led to a shortage of new vines as California growers look to replenish or expand their vineyards. "There's definitely a shortage and it's definitely different," said Warnock, viticulturist at Stage- coach Vineyard in the Napa Valley. Stagecoach heeded the warn- ings and got 2012 orders in on time, as well as a good chunk of its order for 2013. But the winery still had to make a few adjustments. Where once you could call a nursery and get same-day pickup of 1,000 root- stocks for routine maintenance, "We now have to be flexible," War- nock said. On the plus side, Stagecoach has waiting lists for fruit and pre- planting contracts with wineries. "They're saying, `OK, can we sign a 10-year contract with you to plant this clone on this rootstock?' We're definitely seeing a very strong demand for quality Napa Valley grapes," she said. The shortage has its roots in the recession, when growers were understandably reluctant to splash out. But even before the economy took a nosedive, grapegrowers had reduced new plantings and delayed replanting, noted Dr. Deborah Golino, director of Foundation Plant Services (FPS), a service center at UC Davis. Add to that the fact that a large amount of California vineyard acre- age has changed hands – much of it going to wineries and wine grape growers – and that large winer- ies are signing contracts that may require growers to plant new vine- yards, and you have a big jump in demand. FPS produces, tests, maintains and distributes premium, virus- and disease-tested plant materials to California nurseries, with nurser- ies buying cuttings or potted plants from FPS and cutting propagating materials from those vines. As with most things in the wine business, the process of making new vines isn't something that can be hurried along. FPS has gone into high gear to produce new Russell Ranch Foundation plantings, but those materials won't be in grow- ers' hands for a few years. (Russell Ranch is a new vineyard four miles west of the UC Davis campus, con- taining grapevine selections from the FPS foundation vineyard as well as new varieties and clones pro- cessed and tested through FPS.) In the meantime, Golino warns against trying to take shortcuts. Green-growing potted bench Due to the grape shortage, Amy E. War- nock of Stagecoach Vineyard had to place her 2012 and 2013 nursery orders earlier than usual. WWW.VWM-ONLINE.COM grafts are sometimes used as an alternative to dormant bench grafts when grape nursery vines are in short supply, but these are plants that not all growers have the exper- tise required to manage, she noted. Meanwhile, using uncertified cut- tings from a neighbor or other unof- ficial source is definitely a bad idea. JULY - AUG 2012 VINEYARD & WINERY MANAGEMENT 15 "Growers will be wise to plan ahead and work with the nurseries rather than rush to plant poor-qual- ity vines," she said. "Virus diseas- es are easily spread with common stock (non-certified). Poorly rooted or incompletely finished vines often result in vineyards that never pro- duce as well as a vineyard planted with quality stock." Warnock also cautioned against taking a chance on uncertified plants. "You want to definitely be sure that you're getting certified mate- rial that's virus-tested and you want to have a history with the nurser- ies that you're working with," she advised. "This is your chance to get it right. If you make a mistake at planting, such as choosing the wrong rootstock or planting infect- ed material, you will pay for it later. Your inputs will increase while qual- ity decreases. This is your chance to get it right from the start."