May 5, 2022
YOUR SOURCE FOR CAWG AND INDUSTRY NEWS. FOR CAWG MEMBERS ONLY.
IN THIS eNEWS
  • Russian River Water Sharing Proposed
  • DWR Awards $150 Million in Grant Funding for SGMA Implementation
  • Organic and Sustainable Certifications Important to Under 40 Wine Drinkers
  • UC Davis Seminar on Viticulture and Grape Breeding Celebrates Andy Walker’s Career 
  • USDA NRCS Services & Funding Program Information Session
  • CAWG Events: Regional Roadshow, Foundation Golf Tournament
NEWS ITEMS
Water Sharing Agreement Proposed for Upper Russian River
This week, the State Water Resources Control Board made available for public comment a draft voluntary water-sharing agreement and related materials for the Upper Russian River. Materials include a Draft Voluntary Water Sharing Agreement and a Program Fact Sheet. 
                                                           
Erik Ekdahl, deputy director in charge of the Division of Water Rights, has advised the Board to expect a rapid progression of agriculture diverter curtailments, to occur as early as the end of May. The Russian River watershed, he said, will be one of the first impacted. Curtailments are already being issued this week for some agricultural water rights holders on the Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers systems. 
  
Curtailments and groundwater restrictions are anticipated by the Board to impact growers throughout California’s North Coast and San Joaquin Valley ag lands. Ekdahl said the North Coast will be "hit harder than before." 
 
The deadline for comments is 4pm on May 11. General information is on the Board’s Voluntary Water-Sharing Program webpage. For specific Russian River details, please read pages 12-17 of the proposed regulation. 
DWR Awards $150 Million in Grant Funding for SGMA Implementation
This week, the California Department of Water Resources (DWR) announced the first round of grant funding to 20 agencies responsible for managing critically over-drafted groundwater basins throughout the state. DWR awarded $150 million in funding for regional groundwater agencies through the Sustainable Groundwater Management (SGM) Grant Program. The funding will support 119 individual projects, across 20 groundwater basins, focused on water efficiency, groundwater recharge, feasibility studies for alternative water supplies, and the installation of monitoring wells. 

A full list of projects awarded funding can be found here.
Organic and Sustainable Certifications Important to Under 40 Wine Drinkers
On April 27th, Wine Opinions launched a new beverage alcohol market research service - LDA Opinions - which offers quantitative and qualitative research among frequent beverage alcohol consumers between the ages of 21 - 39. A March survey of over 1,500 beverage alcohol consumers revealed significant numbers of drinkers below 40 years of age value organic and sustainability certifications.
 
According to the LDA survey, respondents who drink wine monthly or more often were asked how important it was to them that the wines they buy were made with organically certified grapes or produced by a winery certified for its sustainable practices. Among those citing either type of certification as “very important” the percentage of under-40 respondents was more than double that of respondents over 40. Respondents citing “very important” or “somewhat important” for both organic grapes and sustainable practices were evenly divided by gender.
 
For more information about LDA Opinions or the findings of the frequent beverage alcohol consumer survey, you can contact: John Gillespie – LDA Opinions [email protected].
UC Davis Seminar on Viticulture and Grape Breeding Celebrates Andy Walker’s Career 
The Department of Viticulture and Enology at UC Davis is convening a viticulture and grape breeding seminar to honor and celebrate the academic career of Andy Walker, Ph.D. The seminar, “The past, present, and future of viticulture and grape breeding,” is set for May 19, 2022, from 9:00 am to 5:00 pm, at the UC Davis Conference Center.
 
Speakers will address many different parts of the viticulture and grape breeding continuum: from the history of phylloxera, the grapevine collection, and the evolution of grape breeding to grapevine physiology. Speakers include Hans Walter Peterson, Jean Dodson Peterson, Glenn McGourty, Chris Chen, Peter Cousins, Jonathan Ruel, and more.

For more information on the seminar: Click Here
USDA NRCS Services & Funding Program Information Session
The US Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) is hosting an information session to provide stakeholders a chance to learn and ask about such services as Conservation Technical Assistance and funding programs like the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) and the Conservation Stewardship Program (CSP). NRCS provides farmers, ranchers, and private non-industrial forest operators with technical services and funding opportunities to incentivize improvements to their soil, water, and related natural resources to become more resilient to such things as drought. For questions, please contact Juan Alvarez at [email protected].  

Date: Thursday, May 26, 2022
Time: 10:00 am PDT
CAWG Members in the News
Freeze Hits Winegrape Growers: "Bruce Fry, who grows winegrapes near Lodi, said some of his vines lost their grape clusters—still in early stages of development—to the freeze." Deep freeze hammers winegrape farmers (AgAlert.com, May 4)

Coping with Water Woes: "Of course, Merrill and his fellow Paso Robles growers aren’t the only ones in California to have problems, as a lousy snowpack from the winter and an unusually warm spring are already causing problems this season." How the California Grape Industry Is Coping With Water Woes, (Growing Produce, May 3).
· CAWG Regional Roadshow - REGISTER NOW ·
May 12 | Lake County
The Ripe Choice Farm
2550 Soda Bay Rd, Lake Port
3:00 PM – 5:00 PM
Wine Social
Guest Speaker: John Roncoroni, Ph.D., Weed Specialist

May 17 | Madera
The Vineyard Restaurant
605 S I St, Madera
3:00 PM – 5:00 PM
Wine Social
Guest Speaker: John Roncoroni, Ph.D. Weed Specialist
June 27 | Lodi
Woodbridge Golf & Country
800 East Woodbridge Rd, Woodbridge
4:00 PM – 6:00 PM 
Wine Social
Guest Speaker John Roncoroni, Ph.D., Weed Specialist


Only THREE
Meetings Left!
THANK YOU to our Regional Roadshow Premier Sponsors!
Complimentary registration for all CAWG members.
CAWG Foundation Golf Tournament
The California Association of Winegrape Growers Foundation 3rd Annual Scholarship Golf Tournament, sponsored by Duarte Nursery, is scheduled for Monday, June 27 at Woodbridge Golf and Country Club. Tournament proceeds support scholarships for college age children whose parent or guardian is employed by a California winegrape grower. 

Tournament check-in opens at 9 a.m. followed by a 10 a.m. shotgun start. The tournament will be played as a four-person scramble format. The day will include games, a hole in one contest, and a reception with prizes, drinks and hors d'oeuvres. Following the golf tournament CAWG will host its Regional Roadshow reception at the club house, 4:00 PM - 6:00 PM. To register for the tournament, click here.
 
The 92-year-old Woodbridge Golf & Country Club is located in the heart of Lodi’s wine country and the valley’s finest wineries. The golf course features 27 distinctive holes on its three-championship course.

For information about the CAWG Foundation, please click here.
CALENDAR