From the Fields - Kevin Merrill

It’s been an interesting year weather-wise. We started out with a very cool summer, and we’ve caught up with some days in the upper 90s and 100s. Fog attributed to a lot of mildew pressure in the winegrapes, so we are trying to deal with the mildew infestations throughout the Central Coast. Plus, we are pulling leaves in the vineyards and shoot thinning to a degree. We’re waiting for veraison to kick in, which is just starting. Winegrape harvest will probably start in late August to early September, which is the norm.

We’re looking forward to some good weather to get us to the finish line. Labor is always challenging, but we have gotten by OK this year. We are using more H-2A labor, but that’s also an issue because it is very expensive and always going up.

In our part of the state, we had a 40,000-acre wildfire near the Santa Ynez Valley. We did have some smoke, but for the most part, I don’t think it caused any smoke taint issues in the winegrapes.

We hope the market will start to turn around as a lot of grapes have been removed in areas of California. The Central Coast has done its share of taking out older vineyards, and we’re hoping we get production back in balance. The oversupply of winegrapes is a state problem. People are not drinking as much wine anymore, and we’re battling production from around the world. Larger wineries are bringing in juice from other countries and selling it mixed with a little of our “California”-labeled wine, and that is not helping.

We are concerned with the direction the state Department of Pesticide Regulation is headed with new restrictions. The department’s notification regulation is unnecessary. They should let agricultural commissioners do their jobs. Plus, PCA licensing costs are going way up, and the way we report our continuing education classes are changing and will be more burdensome.