Napa Valley Grapegrowers Spring Conference 2013
Recap
By
FBWorld Team
Predicting
a robust 2013 grape growing season, Napa Valley Grapegrowers
also see a future shortage in Cabernet Sauvignon grapes, according
to the three grape growers featured at the annual Spring press
conference held Friday, March 22 at a historic Yountville vineyard
farmed by a fifth generation Napa Valley family. Additionally,
grape growers are seeing: a changing of the guard, with vineyards
increasingly managed by a younger generation; new technologies
that enable proactive, sustainable farming decisions; and heightened
interest in NVG's farmworker foundation. To watch the press conference,
please visit: 2013 NVG Spring Press Conference.
Napa
Valley Grapegrowers: http://www.napagrowers.org/
2013
NVG Spring Press Conference: (click
here)
Bud break at Herb Lamb vineyards
credit Herb Lamb Vineyards
Press
conference highlights:
The
Grapes:
Bud break is expected the week of March 25, about four days earlier
than 2012, which may make this year's harvest an early one
Rain totals to date: 26-inches, which is the normal and about
the same as 2013
More
Spring rain is predicted, along with a hot summer 45,800 acres
planted in grapes, about 9% of the land in Napa county; 20,000
acres planted in Cabernet Sauvignon
Approximately
15% of county in replant
High
demand for Cabernet Sauvignon in 2012 pushed prices up 8% over
2011
Average
price for one ton of Cabernet Sauvignon grapes is over $5,000;
two times higher than any other reporting district and more than
four times higher than the California state average
Napa
Valley produces only 4% of California's winegrapes
Farmworkers:
Since its inception three years ago, NVG has raised more than
$365,000 for its Farmworker Foundation
NVG
educated over 2,300 farmworkers and supervisors in 2012 alone.
Additional
English language classes will be added in 2013 to meet demand;
classes in equipment training, health, safety, management, leadership
and finance are also offered.
Through
the Foundation, the NVG and dedicated families such as the Moulds
and the Trefethens will provide college-level scholarships to
farmworkers striving to improve their opportunities.
Napa
is the only county in California and the nation to have an assessment
on all growers that built three farmworker centers providing lodging,
meals, laundry, and recreational amenities.
2013
Stomp, August 24, 5 p.m. at Trinchero Family Estate in Calistoga,
is NVG's annual fundraiser for the Farmworker Foundation.
The
2011 NVG Wages & Benefits Survey shows that 91% of vineyard
supervisors and 69% of vineyard workers are offered medical insurance
plans (compared to 52% nationwide in the private sector); 55%
are offered 401k plans - an impressive number that speaks directly
to the grape growers commitment to social equity; 66% of grapegrowers
give annual pay raises.
Grape
growing now requires a full time workforce and is no longer made
up of migrant workers.
Paul
Goldberg vineyard manager Bettinelli Vineyards
Technology:
Vineyard "technology" previously referred to vineyard
mechanization; now it's defined as integrated data management
systems to, in real time, remotely monitor and control vineyards.
New
technologies better safeguard and improve an expensive crop, provide
economic and environmental sustainability.
Dramatically
improved remote weather station capabilities:
Measures temperatures at various altitudes, not just overall temperature
Vines are now used as sensors.
Watches,
analyzes and provokes action in regards to sap flow, pests and
disease, soil moisture, frost and freeze, heat spikes, cluster
temperature, solar radiation, irrigation and more.
24/7
farming from a laptop, tablet or Smartphone.
Puts
'boots on the ground' in 'just in time' manner, rather than having
crews driving from vineyard to vineyard monitoring and managing,
often in the middle of the night
Changing of the guard, sheep in the vineyard
and final notes:
New crop of thirty-something grapegrowers now in charge, using
the advice of the 1970s boom elders; bringing fresh vibrancy in
Napa Valley
Old ways can still be the best ways to farm sustainably - sheep
are employed to mow the weeds from the vineyards; goats scour
vineyard ditches for vines and weeds
Boots
on the ground - farmworkers are the industry's most important
'eyes and ears' - the first to spot vineyard irregularities
Cabernet Sauvignon is still King in Napa Valley
Paul Goldberg - NVG Director, Amy Warnock - NVG
Member, Remi Cohen - NVG Director: credit Robb Mcdonough
Press
conference speakers included:
Paul Goldberg - NVG Director, Bettinelli Vineyards
Remi Cohen - NVG Director, Director of Winemaking & Viticulture,
Cliff Lede Vineyards
Amy Warnock - NVG Member; Viticulturist, Orin Swift