Quality winemaking requires just the right amount of watering of the vines. But making that determination is something of a challenge. Inappropriate watering frequency or volumes can have severe negative impact on the final crop. Vines should actually struggle for water, and while it might seem counterintuitive, it’s the struggling vines which will produce the juiciest grapes, and in turn the most flavorful wines. That’s not to say however, that simply ignoring the plants so that they go without water will produce award winning crops; there’s a balance in the space between that has been an art form for hundreds of years.
For some time now there has been the availability of automated field moisture measuring techniques, but these devices still require vineyard growers and workers to traverse the fields frequently and interact with the vine conditions over the entire scale of the vineyard – each and every vine, in order to remain informed and current. Science has now stepped in to help the growers to remove the guesswork from the art of irrigation and one of the Napa Valley wineries, Ovid, is now employing new technology via a network of wireless sensors to monitor moisture in the vines throughout the vineyards. Prior to employing the new system, the winery was experiencing less than desirable crops due to inappropriate irrigation. They were getting dilution, larger berries than desired and under-ripened grapes.
Utilizing sensors previously employed for sap flow monitoring, the vineyard combined a wireless network with those sensors and linked it to real-time database monitoring. They then monitor the plants’ water evaporation activity and correlate it to conditions and ideally map out a stress profile and irrigate accordingly. The system mimics immediately and remotely what would take people in the field a lot of time and effort to do, and it does it with far more accuracy and also eliminates the need to cut leaves from the vines for samples. They have discovered that less frequent but deeper irrigation benefitted the vines. The vines managed their water retention accordingly, and could better cope with heat waves and water depravation. The results have already shown in the wine, with noticeably enhanced flavors and aromas, presenting crops that are the best that they could be. For a first-hand look at the system and a chance to experience the results, stop off from your wine country tours the next time you’re in Napa Valley wine country and have a look and a taste for yourselves.
