Issue link: http://winesandvines.uberflip.com/i/789891
44 WINES&VINES March 2017 GRAPEGROWING zone, but that's a technique we don't use any- more unless we're in a cold year and need one last push to help reach ripeness. Basically, our goal is to keep the vineyard in balance including soils, sun exposure and crop yield. We used to routinely thin to 2 or 2.5 tons per acre, but some sites can set 4 tons an acre and deliver exceptional fruit quality, while others really need to be thinned to 2-3 tons or even less. And then the winemaker sometimes just has a preference on number of clusters per vine based on their observations of wine quality. The other change is the relationship with the winemaker in the vineyard. When I first started my company in 1990, winemakers would leave all the decisions to me, including clone and rootstock selection, pruning, crop- thinning and other farming decisions that basi- cally now are made in partnership with the winemaker. At the end of the year, we sit down and taste the wines together and discuss whether any vineyard tweaks are needed. It's more collaborative now, and I'm able to con- nect all the dots by seeing what effect a tweak may or may not have had on wine quality. Using all these tools and putting in place these subtle changes, we're really now able to essentially farm by vine. That's making sure that each vine gets the attention needed, whether it's water or nutrients. The secondary drip lines have especially helped in executing this concept. It's pretty common to find nu- merous soil types within a single vineyard here in Napa Valley, so if you think about it, farming a vineyard as one piece doesn't make too much sense. Q Labor shortages are likely to get worse over the coming years. What are you seeing, and how are you planning for the future? Barbour: There's a couple of interesting things happening both good and bad on the labor front. First, Napa Valley is likely a little differ- ent than some other areas of California. Our labor pool is less transient and employed full- time and nearly year-round. We need more skilled labor because the expectations and requirements are so much higher when you're charging more for a bottle of wine. So, while we are seeing a shortage, we have a more ex- perienced labor pool that tends to be with you year after year because they're better paid. Maybe the labor shortage is a good thing and will help us to continue the evolution from an industry reliant on transient labor to one that offers a living wage to what is now really a vineyard professional—someone choosing to farm for a living. Mechanization is something that undoubt- edly will come into play, but I'm not quite sure yet how. Part of the problem is our requirement to deliver perfect grapes. Machinery can't re- place that and doesn't do the job of a skilled vineyard professional. Then you also have areas such as hillsides where operating a piece of machinery would be too dangerous. The vine- yard-management companies servicing large vineyards like those out in the Central Valley will likely turn more to machinery because they rely more on transient labor and can get a return on the investment in the equipment. A resident of the Santa Cruz Mountains, Laurie Daniel has been a journalist for more than 35 years. She has been writing about wine for publications for more than 21 years and has been a Wines & Vines contributor since 2006. "While we are seeing a shortage, we have a more experienced labor pool that tends to be with you year after year." — Jim Barbour Say good- bye to a corkscrew Vinoseal is widely popular among wine lovers because of the easy opening and closing of the bottle. It takes just a click to open a bottle. Another click, and the bottle is sealed back and completely leakproof again. Easy to open and easy to close. No corkscrew is needed. To find out more, visit www.vinoseal.us. E X L C L U S I V E D I S T R I B U T O R I N U S A Vinolok-Bayard-2017-12x19.indd 1 08.02.17 20:54