Rains are right on time for winegrowers

by Carmela Guaglianone, SF Examiner

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.

Read the Full Article