Dry-Farming Wine Grapes
I am not by any leap of the imagination an environmentalist of the type that Tree Hugger is used to having read its posts, but I am all for doing things better and more efficiently.
I also had the great luck to spend four-plus years in college above the lovely town of St. Helena in the Napa Valley, from whence comes this story:
One of the more unique efforts that Frog’s Leap has made is in the area of water conservation. No water is used on the any of the grape crops. They are completely dry farmed. John explains that “all grapes in Napa for 125 years were dry farmed. Irrigation came to Napa in the 70s, was made popular in late 80s, and became required in the 90s. Now it’s thought to be completely impossible to grow grapes without water.”
Another thing I am not is a wine expert, but that’s not going to stop me from giving their stuff a shot. I’ll let you know how it goes.
