Issue link: http://winesandvines.uberflip.com/i/95545
(Continued from page 44.) GRAPE GRO WING This is one of the largest and highest resolution weather data sets compiled for a North Coast viticulture region. Weather data from the network also generate daily regional maps of various weather parameters including temperature and rainfall as well as disease risk assessment data such as powdery mildew and botrytis risk indexes. These maps are available on a subscription basis at terraspase.com. In addition, weather station data are used by Terra Späse's partners at Fox Weather in making region-specific, agricultural weather and disease risk forecast products that also are available by subscription at terraspase.com. Weather stations at Pride Mountain Steve Pride is CEO of Pride Mountain Vineyards at the top of Spring Mountain, straddling Napa and Sonoma counties. Pride has three Adcon weather stations from Terra Späse set up on its 235-acre property. The system has been up and running for more than two years. The stations record temperature, cumulative growing degree days, humidity, powdery mildew index, botrytis index and rainfall. The data is recorded continuously, and managers can look at it remotely (or download it) from a computer. "All the data ever recorded is available online, which makes it convenient to go back and quickly review past episodes of weather," Pride said. "It is amazing how quickly you can forget precisely how many rainfall events occurred, for example, in May and June of 2011 (other than to just say vaguely 'a lot!')" "In seconds, I can now print out a continuous reading of rainfall during those two months and see exactly what happened on the three different parts of our property. These data are always quite distinct from what is recorded somewhere down in the Napa Valley." Pride said that he imagines that different vintners use this information in different ways. "We tend not to use it so much in a proactive way but in a historical way that allows us to correlate weather, viticultural practice and subsequent wine quality." He added, " Although we looked carefully at the powdery mildew index during the early parts of the past two growing seasons to make sure our spray program was adequate (and not overkill), our spray schedule is set ahead of time and only needs to be slightly adjusted depending more on weather forecasts than the weather of the current day. "We definitely looked closely at the botrytis index from Sept. 27 through Oct. 5, 2011, when rain events gave valley vineyards so much trouble. Fortunately, at our elevation of 2,100 feet, we had only a mildly enhanced index Oct. 3 that was not followed by any botrytis outbreak whatsoever. " During sustained warm weather, Pride likes to be able to look at the continuous record of temperature from the previous couple of weeks as a means of quantifying the severity of the heat wave. Pride added, "Similarly, in the spring it is nice to have a record of the temperatures from the past few evenings to be better prepared for a freeze. Although we still have alarms that go off in our vineyard foreman's house that are independent of the weather stations and that allow him to light smudge pots prior to freezing temperatures, having the actual recordings of the temperature and humidity during those scary spring mornings helps us to better understand the severity of the cold spell." Another index that Pride uses quite often is growing degree days. "Is 2012 a particularly warm year, or was 2011 particularly cold?" Most growers have Use Your iPhone or iPad as a Powerful pH Meter For more details, visit us on line at: www.ph1phmeter.com ®iPod, iPhone and iPad are registered trademarks of Apple Multipoint Calibration Manual or Auto-Temperature Compensation Time/Date/Location Stamp Recording with Comments GPS Coordinate Recording for Field Use E-mail Data Records for Compliance and Record Keeping 11751 Markon Drive Garden Grove, California 92841 Tel: 714-895-4344 • Fax: 714-894-4839 46 WINES & VINES DECEMBER 2012