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16 WINES&VINES March 2017 L odi, Calif.—Wine grape vineyards in the Lodi district were pummeled by rain through mid- February. Low-lying vineyards were not able to absorb all the water, and growers were unsure when they might be able even to begin pruning. Levees near the Mokelumne River were especially vulnerable to flooding, according to Stuart Spencer, program director for the Lodi Winegrape Commission. High water levels and high flow rates breached some of levees in the area. Spencer reported that the 28 weather stations in the Lodi dis- trict recorded 19-26 inches dur- ing the 2016-17 winter season, a departure from the 30-year aver- age of 17.91 inches per year. With the river water already above vineyard levels, there is nowhere for the water to go, and until the rain stops, no way to predict when the vineyards will become passable. From a vine- yard manager's perspective, Spencer said, bud break was still at least a month away. He also mentioned the possi- bility of damaging beaver incur- sions among the vines. When rivers overrun their banks, the large rodents may move into vineyards and gnaw on the vines. Growers may not even know this has happened until they can closely examine the vineyards. Sometimes, he said, the animals may sever the vine but abandon it if it is supported by trellis wires on the cordons. Most Lodi-area vineyards are drip irrigated, according to Spencer. Mike Anagnos at Sunwest Ag Service oversees some 120 acres of Lodi-area vineyards. A few of these vineyards remained under- water for a month, some with more than 3 feet of standing water. Lower level vineyards ad- jacent to the Mokelumne River were most affected. The river overflowed its banks, adding to the load in the vineyards, and the water had nowhere to go, Anagnos said. "Normally we'd be pruning now," Anagnos commented dur- ing the second week of February. He's been tending these farms since 2004. The first time he suf- fered flooding was in 2007, when his tractor got stuck in the water and mud, and two more tractors were needed to extricate it. Still, he hopes this year's abundant water will help keep phylloxera and nematodes in check. Professor Andrew Waterhouse in the Department of Viticulture and Enology at the University of California, Davis, confirmed this latter assumption. "A good flood will kill phylloxera, but the soil column has to be saturated with water. Persistent standing water should lead to saturating the soil totally. This does work well in sandy soil. Even irrigation flood- ing can suppress phylloxera in sandy soil," he said, adding that TOP STORY Vineyards Submerged for Weeks in Lodi WINE INDUSTRY NEWS Unpruned Mission vines planted next to the Mokelumne River stand in water this February. MIKE ANAGNOS