The Napa Valley Grapegrowers announces ROOTSTOCK 2023, to be held on November 6 and 7 at the Napa Valley College Performing Arts Center. This year’s event will focus on a central theme: weed management in the vineyard.
 
Though weed management in the vineyard is an integral part of the vineyard management system, there is mounting pressure to adapt farming methods to navigate public perceptions. And, as Napa Valley growers continue to strive for viticultural excellence, employing innovative best practices is paramount to increasing quality and sustainability in our vineyards.
 
ROOTSTOCK 2023 is open to the public, and the Napa Valley Grapegrowers hopes the focused format will inspire discussions in an open and collaborative manner. This year’s highlights include:

• Understanding the public’s perspective on herbicides with, “Children of the Vine” director, Brian Lilla
• Review of Napa County herbicide trends with Sarah Ferguson, CEO and co-founder of Ruetd
• The history of herbicide use in vineyards and agriculture with Dr. Scott Steinmaus, PhD, head of plant sciences, California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo
• A wine business case study with Ivo Jeramaz, winemaker and vice president of vineyards and production, Grgich Hills Estate
• Continuing Education Seminars (1 professional development and 2 integrated pest management CEU credits)
  • Napa County regulatory review of pesticides with the Napa County Agricultural Commissioner’s Office
  • Sustainable pest management – a roadmap for California with Nan Singhasemanon, assistant director, Department of Pesticide Regulation
  • Integrated weed management – identification, control, and innovative alternatives with John Roncoroni, weed science farm advisor, Emeritus, UC Cooperative Extension

 
Who should attend: Viticulturists, vineyard managers, winemakers, enologists, vineyard and winery owners, students, and community members interested in learning more about weed management in the vineyard.
 
Single-day and two-day ROOTSTOCK tickets can be purchased online on the Napa Valley Grapegrowers website.
 
The Napa Valley Grapegrowers hosted its first symposium and exhibition, the Napa Valley Viticultural Fair, in 1990. Now, over three decades later, ROOTSTOCK has evolved beyond a tradeshow format, yet carries on the tradition of delivering top quality education and resources to the wine industry. 

​With the 2023 growing season well underway, Napa growers are studying the vintage characteristics to date to help track trends. Below are a few highlights so far: 

1. Late bud-break with wet winter 
2. 20+ inches of rain Jan-Mar, 10+ inches of snow in February
3. Phenology is roughly 2-3 weeks behind previous recent vintages
4. Fruit set is underway and looks good so far
5. Cluster counts are variable around the valley
6. Growing Degree Days (GDD) are tracking closely with the 2010 vintage

While every vintage is unique, lessons can be drawn from previous growing seasons—especially the 2010 vintage. The 2010 growing season was like the current season in terms of winter rainfall and an unusually cool spring. To hasten ripening, many vineyards were aggressively leafed in order to expose the fruit. A late August heat wave caused significant crop loss due to damaged clusters without canopy protection.      

​While the weather may be cool now, the clusters will need protection from the sun during the late summer and early fall months, so crews should be prudent when making canopy management passes during the next few weeks of the growing season.

Sheep in the vineyard, no tillage and reduced pesticides were just a few of the solutions for vineyards to mitigate climate change that were recommended at the recent ‘Ahead of the Curve’ seminar hosted by the Napa Valley Grapegrowers. Given that the UN Climate Report 2023, released on 20th March, urges swift action to prevent the planet from surpassing the 1.5C degrees threshold of catastrophic warming, the seminar couldn‘t have come at a better time.

​‘We‘ve been offering the “Ahead of the Curve” seminar to our growers since 2007,’ said Sonya DeLuca, interim executive director of the Napa Valley Grapegrowers. ‘This is the second year in a row that we have focused on sustainability and climate efforts, because it is so critical to our future now,’ she added.

DeLuca referenced the extreme wildfires, droughts and atmospheric jet streams that have afflicted Napa Valley over the past five years. Given that Napa Valley currently has 17,000 hectares under vine and 1,500 grape growers, education on this topic is critical. Yet the majority of the solutions offered by the five experts who spoke during the day-long seminar at Charles Krug Winery can be applied to any global vineyard.

In recent years, there has been a surge in awareness and interest around sustainability and land stewardship across California farming communities — and not only among agricultural producers.

The benefits of farmland preservation and regenerative farming practices have captured the interest of a much larger audience that sees that a farmer’s work can benefit the community as much as the farm itself. This is true in Napa County, where growers are increasingly taking action and demonstrating that returns on environmentally conscience investments in the vineyard can be land-smart, economically beneficial and provide ecosystem services to the collective community.

Land restoration efforts around the Napa watershed are a great example of long-term investments grape growers continue to undertake. These show how doing the right thing can result in a multitude of benefits. The river restoration projects in Oakville, Yountville, and now Oak Knoll reaches have proven to be extremely successful. They have improved the Napa River and instream habitats leading to the repopulation of fish and other animals as well as supported the replenishment of aquifers and decreased the risk of flooding — a domino effect of positive change to local ecosystems!

As sheets of rain and hail pounded parts of San Francisco Tuesday, Michael Baldacci, owner and winemaker at Baldacci Family Vineyards, looked out his window at the renowned Stags Leap District in Napa County and saw his cover crops coming to life.

Although intense storms continue to wreak widespread damage across the state, the wet weather is a boon for winemakers, who have long been waiting for the rain.

“It just feels like we’ve been kind of praying for this,” said Baldacci. “The rains really have been something that we’ve welcomed the last couple of weeks.”
​
Had this storm surge come later in the season, vintners may have been whistling a different tune. But the grapevines are currently in their winter dormancy, a stage between harvest and bud break when the vine drops its leaves and goes into a protective mode for the winter months.
During dormancy, “all rain is good rain,” said Justin Leigon, viticulturist and board member of the Napa Valley Grapegrowers.
That means there won’t be any direct impact on the grapevines or the wine that they produce, said Megan Bartlett, a plant biologist at the UC Davis Department of Viticulture and Enology. However, wet and humid conditions could increase the chance for fungal disease later in the season.

With extreme rain and storm conditions across the greater Bay Area, we recommend following these best practices during rainy winter months.
 
Subsurface drain tiles, sump pumps, and other vineyard “dewatering” systems are important and highly impactful farming tools. However, when run all winter long, they can waste electricity and prevent saturating rains from recharging our subsurface aquifers.
 
Consider turning your sump pump OFF until much closer to bud break.  When set to “auto” for the winter season, we risk unnecessarily adding more runoff to our swelling streams, creeks, and the Napa River. Saturated soils generally do not damage vineyard root systems during the dormant season; therefore concerns are minimal for vine impact.
 
IMPORTANT NOTE: drainage and pumping systems are critical to maintaining roadway access or preventing water from entering wineries and damaging other types of sensitive infrastructure. In these cases, systems need to remain operational.
 
Benefits to turning off sump pumps include:

• Reduction in electricity cost
• Increased lifespan of pumps and pump motors
• Increase in groundwater recharge – critical to our recovery from multi-year drought conditions
• Potential reduction in downstream flooding
• No need to service or check sumps during rain events, which reduces labor cost
• Rainfall infiltration allowed to completely flush accumulated salts well past rootzone

Resources

• To view all of NVG's best practices papers, visit the NVG Seasonal Best Practices archive
  
• Sign-up to for the complimentary NVG Weather Alert. 

NVG's Low-Smoke Burning Technique & Other Alternatives

Permitted burn season runs from October through April. One of the easiest and most cost-effective alternatives to smoky burns for growers to implement is NVG’s Low-Smoke Ag Burning Technique. Use NVG's step-by-step manual available in English and Spanish to reduce black carbon, preserve air quality, and conduct virtually smoke-free burns!
 
Burning is an essential practice with no alternative when it comes to preventing the spread of vine pests and diseases. In addition to NVG's Low-Smoke Burning Technique, the use of fireboxes such as Airburners can also deliver a clean burn. For vines not compromised due to pest and disease issues, other alternative methods include chipping and grinding.

NVG's Vine Disposal & Open Burning Resources

• NVG’s Low-Smoke Ag Burning Manuals and Task Force Webpage
• Open Burning & Vine Disposal Requirements & Best Practices
• Alternatives to Traditional Agricultural Biomass Burning in Napa Valley (2018), Daniela Bazán, Master of Science in Environmental Management
• Napa County Agricultural Commissioner Burn Permit Information
• BAAQMD Regulations
• BAAQMD'S 'Spare the Air' Status
• Learn about BAAQMD’s Free Chipping Services​

NVG will carry forward a fire detection initiative, funding three early detection sensors for the month of September on Atlas Peak, Clover Flat, and Diamond Mountain with 24/7 monitoring to protect Napa County residents and businesses from wildfires.
 
The Illumination Technologies (ITC) state of the art “IQ FireWatch sensors” triangulate locations of potential fire threats including identifying specific parcel numbers in Napa County. This program was initiated in 2021, funded by Napa County. However, without the passing of Measure L, the service could no longer be maintained through public funds. Through the generosity of local grape growers, the sensors have continued to protect the community through the month of August. NVG will be taking on fiscal responsibility for the service through the month of September, at the peak of harvest and Napa County’s fire season—and in some of the County’s highest fire-risk areas.

“When we realized the service was at risk of shutting down, NVG leadership sprung into action to ensure the sensors stayed on. Early detection is a valuable tool in the toolbox when it comes to protecting the entire community from the wildfires like we’ve experienced over the last several years. We’re proud to carry this community-first, collaborative initiative forward,” said Tom Davies, who sits on NVG’s Board of Directors, Industry Issues Committee, and Wildfire Task Force.
 
As part of this initiative, NVG also commits to working with industry and community partners during the month of September and onward to implement a long-term plan for maintaining ongoing early detection services and expanding coverage to more areas throughout the County. 
 
NVG would like to recognize the incredible generosity and stewardship of Caymus Vineyards and Circle R Ranch & Vineyards for their individual contributions that allowed the ITC service to remain in place through August in service to the entire community.
 
In addition to this initiative, the NVG Wildfire Task Force is engaged with several other projects including:

• NVG’s Smoke Exposure Data Benchmarking Project in partnership with ETS Labs; ETS Labs’ latest findings will be presented at this year’s ROOTSTOCK symposium on November 18
• Advancing Napa County’s Ag Pass Program to ensure a safe, at-the-ready program in partnership with the Napa County Ag Commissioner and industry partners
• Ongoing education on fuel load reduction and fire safety
• Aiding members in recovery and access to critical Emergency Relief Program (ERP) disaster assistance

For more information, NVG members can access a complete library of Wildfire Resources on NVG’s website.