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10 Wines&Vines January 2015 A member of Wine Communications Group Inc. President & Publisher Chet klingensmith chairman hugh tietjen Publishing consultant ken koppel associate Publisher tina Vierra Publishing assistant Maria Brunn editOriAL Editor Jim Gordon managing Editor kate lavin associate Editor Andrew Adams senior correspondent Paul Franson contributing Editor Jane Firstenfeld northwest correspondent Peter Mitham columnists Grapegrowing: Cliff Ohmart, Vineyard View: Glenn t. McGourty contributing Writers laurie daniel, Richard Smart, Fritz Westover, Chris Stamp, Andrew Reynolds, Craig Root PrActicAL Winery & vineyArd Editor don Neel Wine eAst Editor linda Jones Mckee Writers Richard Carey, hudson Cattell design & PrOductiOn art Director Barbara Gelfand Summer Production Designer Bridget Williams dAtAbAse deveLOPment And infOrmAtiOn technOLOgy Vice President—Data management lynne Skinner Project manager liesl Stevenson Database & Web Development James Rust, Peter Scarborough edItOR'S letteR This issue celebraTes a new year of winemaking and the 96th birthday of Wines & Vines with an updated graphic design. So in addition to filling 164 pages with great articles about everything from rainstorms to drought to the Unified Wine & Grape Symposium, the issue introduces a new logo, type fonts and other improvements to keep our pages up to date. The magazine's art director, Barbara Gelfand Summer, developed the new look in order to make the magazine easier to navigate, more businesslike in appearance and more flexible to accommodate a variety of short and long stories. You will notice simpler yet more sophisticated graphs, charts and tables, too. Barbara looked back in time while creating the new Wines & Vines logo for the cover. Going through our library of bound volumes back to 1919 she found that the magazine has changed its look numerous times to stay relevant. Some of the striking old cover designs inspired her thinking. The new logo our team decided on after months of work does echo a Wines & Vines logo from the early 1960s but adds a 21st century edge. We hope you like it! Water and wine grapes Water has been a scarce commodity in California vineyards since the current drought began about three years ago, and our writers have been covering it constantly. This issue continues that coverage with four major articles on water and grape growing. We didn't really expect to be putting the issue together during 10 days of almost constant rain in the San Francisco Bay area, however. The water coverage begins in the Top Stories section (page 18) with Paul Franson's news report on how much rain fell in early December. The good news was that the rainfall in many California wine regions was ahead of average for this time of year, but the bad news was that major reservoirs were so low that an end to the drought may still be far off. Our coverage of the water crisis for vineyards continues with three articles in the feature section that explain concrete measures being taken by growers and wineries to address head-on the widespread shortage. First is a report by Kate Getty on a truly unusual effort by The Nature Conservancy to help fish and farmers in the Navarro River watershed of California at the same time. The article on page 40 explains how the conservancy provided streamflow gauges to vine- yard owners to develop an accurate picture of how much water was flowing through their properties and when. Next efforts will involve talking with water authorities about modifying some of their rules, and planning when to tap and when not to tap the water in a way that will benefit vineyards and Coho salmon alike. Next, on page 44 one of our most tech-knowledgeable contribu- tors, Thomas Ulrich, takes a close look at how one winery, Rodney Strong in Healdsburg, Calif., measures water in soil and vines, and how it utilizes irrigation water for maximum quality grapes with generous yields. The third water story in that section tells how growers in Napa and Sonoma counties can take advantage of free or low-cost irrigation audits. It is by associate editor Andrew Adams, and it begins on page 50. That was a very quick preview of just one major topic in this big January issue. We hope you find time to take advantage of all the other news, industry metrics and commentary in these pages. And if you happen to be read- ing this during the Unified Wine & Grape Symposium in Sacramento from January 27-29, please visit our team in the trade show at booth numbers 428, 430 and 441. Here's to your health and your business's prosperity in 2015! —Jim Gordon A New Look for the New Year In addition to...great articles about rainstorms, drought and the unified Sympo- sium...the issue introduces a new logo, fonts and other improvements. cOntAct us subscriPtions email: subs@winesandvines.com Online: winesandvines.com Call: (866) 453-9704 EDitorial email: subs@winesandvines.com Online: winesandvines.com DirEctory email: subs@winesandvines.com Online: winesandvines.com Call: (866) 453-9704 mail 65 Mitchell Blvd., Suite A San Rafael, CA 94903