For the third year in a row, wine country vintners such as those at V. Sattui Winery – a popular stop on many tourists’ list of Napa Valley local wineries, fear the drought could cause crop damage, resulting in reduced crop hauls, inferior grapes, and financial losses. Lake and reservoir levels have dropped to extremely low levels and are not being replenished due to the lack of precipitation. But the concern is less about having the water to nourish the vines with water and much more to do with shielding the crops from frost.
The unusually warm weather in wine country along with the lack of rain will almost inevitably drive the vines to break out with buds much earlier than they should, believing that spring has arrived before it actually has done so. This will mean that budding vines will be exposed to the possibility of frost for two additional months more than they should. When a major frost is due, the northern California wineries will use the water to spray on the vines, forming a barrier around the grapes which act as a shield so that the juice inside of the grape doesn’t freeze. Without water supplies in the lakes and reservoirs, the roughly five hundred vineyards throughout Sonoma County and Napa County will have no protection for their crops. Last year Napa Valley lost crops valued at more than one million dollars when it experienced the worst frost in thirty years.
