Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/751050
62 DECEMBER 2016 GOOD FRUIT GROWER www.goodfruit.com TJ MULLINAX/GOOD FRUIT GROWER Martinelli's has two production centers in Watsonville, which is surrounded by apple and berry farms. This facility sits downtown. TJ MULLINAX/GOOD FRUIT GROWER Noah Gizdich walks through the north part of the family ranch in Watsonville, California, where the family has planted Newtown Pippins between older trees. The older trees, with prop wood stored between the branches, were planted with a much larger spacing. Coastal California apple growers hold on through relationship with sparkling cider maker Martinelli's. by Ross Courtney O ne hundred years ago, Watsonville, California, was one of the apple leaders of the world, shipping fruit around the globe, supporting dozens of local packing sheds and giving rise to Martinelli's, argu- ably the most famous sparkling apple cider producer in the United States. Nowadays, Martinelli's is practically the only rea- son there are any apples at all in the temperate Pajaro Valley, wedged between Monterrey and Santa Cruz, while Watsonville is better known for strawberries. Martinelli's "is what keeps apples here in the valley without a doubt," said Vince Gizdich, a third-genera- tion Watsonville grower. Martinelli's buys about 95 percent of the apples grown in the Pajaro Valley. "If we suddenly disap- peared, those growers would have nowhere to go with their fruit," said Gun Ruder, vice president of Martinelli's. A history together