Lack of water tests vineyard managers
By Ed Joyce, Capital Public Radio
More than three years of drought has reduced reservoir storage in California and groundwater supply. Some wine grape growers in Amador County are worried the limited resource could make this season more challenging.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said that, barring “epic rain and snowfall,” the drought will continue through at least the spring and likely linger into the summer in California. That’s a worry for wine grape growers that rely on groundwater.
“There’s a lot of concern out there amongst growers that I work with in the four counties in the Central Sierra,” said Lynn Wunderlich, a Farm Advisor with UC Davis Cooperative Extension. She works with growers in El Dorado, Amador, Calaveras and Tuolumne counties.
Wunderlich said the rainfall in each of those counties varies significantly. Because of the drought, Wunderlich said some growers are extending their wells or digging new wells to increase groundwater supply.