Irrigation Innovation: A winegrape grower trains vines to requin half as much water

摘要

TIM Carl has developed an irrigation method that not only has reduced the water use on his Napa Valley vineyard by 50%, he has increased the quality of the wines. Carl, a managing partner at Knights Bridge Winery in St. Helena, CA, calls it the "big drink" method, as he will apply a huge amount of water, but only a few times over the season. Carl developed the method in the course of trying to make his operation more sustainable. As with any system, he says you monitor what you do, and look for waysto improve. It's an approach he has pursued in the past as a researcher, obtaining his Ph.D. in genetics from Harvard, where he later served a fellowship. At Knights Bridge, the sixth-generation grape grower started by taking out a frost protection system that employed overhead microsprinklers, installing wind machines instead.