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plements such traditional dishes as Peking duck. Doing business in Asia isn't simple. "You can't go in thinking that you're just going to make your placements in all the restaurants and all the grocery stores. It just doesn't work that way," Manahan- Ehlow said. Getting wine onto restaurant lists can be a pay-for-play transaction. LOOKING OUT FOR TROUT es the fish vs. farmers debate, pre- senting findings linking higher death rates for threatened juvenile steel- head trout with low water levels in the summer and the amount of vine- yard acreage upstream. But researchers hold out the A study by UC Berkeley address- possibility that better water man- agement – as opposed to ripping out vineyards – may help solve the problem, an approach that resonat- ed with Nick Frey, president of the Sonoma County Winegrape Com- mission. "Grapes and fish do not need to be competing for the same resource if managed better, which requires the support of the regulatory agen- cies," he said. One option is to build ponds for off-stream storage, something that may get a boost with new legislation aimed at streamlining the permitting process. The new study, published in the May issue of the journal Transac- tions of the American Fisheries Soci- ety, includes analysis based on nine years of fish count data taken from nine streams in Sonoma County, which allows researchers to account for year-to-year variability in precipi- tation and differences in land use. Drought impacts water levels, and the biologists acknowledge that other factors influence fish popula- tions, including ocean conditions and habitat degradation. Still, previ- WWW.VWM-ONLINE.COM A UC Davis researcher is working to protect water flows for steelhead trout while maintaining water availability for vineyards. Lead author Theodore Grantham, a recent Ph.D. graduate from UC Berkeley's Department of Environ- mental Science, Policy and Man- agement, and now a postdoctoral researcher at UC Davis, notes that the state's salmon and trout popula- tions are on a path to extinction and that agricultural water use during the summer can reduce or eliminate the limited amount of available habitat to sustain the cold-water fish through summer. "still have our glass of wine." One solution is establishing small, off- stream reservoirs to store water dur- ing heavy rains. Storage isn't going to work for all vineyards, but is a good plan for vineyards on hillsides where it's easier to build a pond into the side of a slope. Another strategy would be to coordinate irrigation schedules where possible. Frey said this can work for vintners who have off-stream storage – they can SEPT - OCT 2012 VINEYARD & WINERY MANAGEMENT 15 The Wine Institute recommends that wineries don't pony up, although Gallagher noted that it's up to win- eries to make that decision. Retail accounts are more approachable, but the issue there is awareness, Gallagher said. "They know Califor- nia as a place. They don't necessarily have any idea that we make wine." The challenge for the industry is to connect California, home of the ous Sonoma County studies showed that stream flow drops when water is withdrawn for vineyards, and the new study addressed the impact of regional agriculture. Researchers found the fish were especially at risk during California's dry summers, with an average over all nine years of only 30% of fish present in June surviving to late summer. Golden Gate Bridge and movie stars, with "California, a world-class wine- producing region." The future for Golden State wine in China looks bright, although Galla- gher cautioned that it's not an instant cure for sales blues. "China's not going to solve your volume problem in the next six months," she said, but it could become a good export market a few years down the road. Steelhead trout, which are related to salmon and, like salmon, migrate from freshwater streams to the ocean before returning to their birth- place to spawn, are endangered in Southern California and the upper Columbia River. Several other popu- lations, including those in Northern California, are threatened. Still, Grantham said, it's possible to protect water flows for fish and