Wine & Spirits - February 2018 - 21

Water Footprint Per Serving (in Liters)
Source: Mekonnen, M.M. and Hoekstra, A.Y. (2011) The green, blue and grey water footprint of crops
and derived crop products, Hydrology and Earth System Sciences, 15(5): 1577-1600.

Dry Farming vs. Irrigation
Jesus turned water into wine. Vintners do it too, but it takes
a full growing season and is a little less of a miracle. Water
has become a hot topic in recent years, particularly in California where several years of drought have made for delicate
water politics.
Dry farming is one of the terms that has been popping up
a lot lately. It entails growing the vines without irrigation,
relying solely on rainfall. This is common practice in Europe,
where irrigation is not allowed in established vineyards, but
in California the approach is considered risky, as the rains
tend to fall only in the winter and spring, leaving the vines
vunerable to drought during summer's heat. But proponents
point to the sustainability of the practice as well as the quality
of the resulting wines: Since the vine must sink a deeper taproot to find water, the wines are thought to be more reflective
of the terroir as opposed to the irrigation hose.
While the term gets a lot of lip-service from vineyard owners, there is no data on how many of California's vineyards
are dry farmed. Steve Matthiasson, who makes wine under
his own label as well as overseeing others' vineyards, estimates that it's less than one percent of vineyards in Napa and
Sonoma. Matthiasson, pointing to a 4,000-year tradition of
irrigating crops in the western US, comments, "There is a real
case to be made comparing the carbon footprint of a high tillage dry-farming model versus a no-till carbon-sequestering
cover crop and judicious irrigation." Meanwhile, he is experimenting with new plantings, using high-vigor rootstocks and
perennial grasses that are native to California, trying to create a dry-farmed, no-till vineyard that sequesters carbon.

Tomato
50L

Beer (barley)
74L

Wine
109L

On the consumer side, when it comes to food and drink choices, it
may be useful to keep in mind that wine has a smaller water footprint than many popular foods. This graphic shows the water footprint in liters per 250 grams (8.8 ounces) of meat, beer and tomatoes
versus 125 milliliters (4.2 ounces) of coffee and wine.

BIODIVERSITY?

OFF-FARM INPUTS?

SULFITES?

No

No

Allowed

<100ppm*

No

Yes: 10% set aside

Discouraged

<100ppm*

Sometimes

No

Allowed

no limits

Sometimes

Property-wide perspective

Allowed

no limits

CHEMICAL INPUTS?

Coffee
132L

WINE & SPIRITS

FEBRUARY 2018

21



Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Wine & Spirits - February 2018

Contents
Wine & Spirits - February 2018 - Cover1
Wine & Spirits - February 2018 - Cover2
Wine & Spirits - February 2018 - 1
Wine & Spirits - February 2018 - 2
Wine & Spirits - February 2018 - 3
Wine & Spirits - February 2018 - 4
Wine & Spirits - February 2018 - Contents
Wine & Spirits - February 2018 - 6
Wine & Spirits - February 2018 - 7
Wine & Spirits - February 2018 - 8
Wine & Spirits - February 2018 - 9
Wine & Spirits - February 2018 - 10
Wine & Spirits - February 2018 - 11
Wine & Spirits - February 2018 - 12
Wine & Spirits - February 2018 - 13
Wine & Spirits - February 2018 - 14
Wine & Spirits - February 2018 - 15
Wine & Spirits - February 2018 - 16
Wine & Spirits - February 2018 - 17
Wine & Spirits - February 2018 - 18
Wine & Spirits - February 2018 - 19
Wine & Spirits - February 2018 - 20
Wine & Spirits - February 2018 - 21
Wine & Spirits - February 2018 - 22
Wine & Spirits - February 2018 - 23
Wine & Spirits - February 2018 - 24
Wine & Spirits - February 2018 - 25
Wine & Spirits - February 2018 - 26
Wine & Spirits - February 2018 - 27
Wine & Spirits - February 2018 - 28
Wine & Spirits - February 2018 - 29
Wine & Spirits - February 2018 - 30
Wine & Spirits - February 2018 - 31
Wine & Spirits - February 2018 - 32
Wine & Spirits - February 2018 - 33
Wine & Spirits - February 2018 - 34
Wine & Spirits - February 2018 - 35
Wine & Spirits - February 2018 - 36
Wine & Spirits - February 2018 - 37
Wine & Spirits - February 2018 - 38
Wine & Spirits - February 2018 - 39
Wine & Spirits - February 2018 - 40
Wine & Spirits - February 2018 - 41
Wine & Spirits - February 2018 - 42
Wine & Spirits - February 2018 - 43
Wine & Spirits - February 2018 - 44
Wine & Spirits - February 2018 - 45
Wine & Spirits - February 2018 - 46
Wine & Spirits - February 2018 - 47
Wine & Spirits - February 2018 - 48
Wine & Spirits - February 2018 - 49
Wine & Spirits - February 2018 - 50
Wine & Spirits - February 2018 - 51
Wine & Spirits - February 2018 - 52
Wine & Spirits - February 2018 - 53
Wine & Spirits - February 2018 - 54
Wine & Spirits - February 2018 - 55
Wine & Spirits - February 2018 - 56
Wine & Spirits - February 2018 - 57
Wine & Spirits - February 2018 - 58
Wine & Spirits - February 2018 - 59
Wine & Spirits - February 2018 - 60
Wine & Spirits - February 2018 - 61
Wine & Spirits - February 2018 - 62
Wine & Spirits - February 2018 - 63
Wine & Spirits - February 2018 - 64
Wine & Spirits - February 2018 - 65
Wine & Spirits - February 2018 - 66
Wine & Spirits - February 2018 - 67
Wine & Spirits - February 2018 - 68
Wine & Spirits - February 2018 - 69
Wine & Spirits - February 2018 - 70
Wine & Spirits - February 2018 - 71
Wine & Spirits - February 2018 - 72
Wine & Spirits - February 2018 - 73
Wine & Spirits - February 2018 - 74
Wine & Spirits - February 2018 - 75
Wine & Spirits - February 2018 - 76
Wine & Spirits - February 2018 - 77
Wine & Spirits - February 2018 - 78
Wine & Spirits - February 2018 - 79
Wine & Spirits - February 2018 - 80
Wine & Spirits - February 2018 - 81
Wine & Spirits - February 2018 - 82
Wine & Spirits - February 2018 - 83
Wine & Spirits - February 2018 - 84
Wine & Spirits - February 2018 - 85
Wine & Spirits - February 2018 - 86
Wine & Spirits - February 2018 - 87
Wine & Spirits - February 2018 - 88
Wine & Spirits - February 2018 - Cover3
Wine & Spirits - February 2018 - Cover4
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