Posted in Industry News, NVG News on Apr 04, 2017
by NVG Task Force
"Picture this scene: This year in Napa, we have benefited from frequent and significant rain. Bay Area Air Quality Management District’s hotline announces an increasingly rare permitted burn day. An inversion layer, however, can cause smog and smoke to remain near ground level.
We all know what happens next: The match is struck and the stage is set for the kind of smoky burn that disturbs neighbors and sets a bad example of what it means to farm in the Napa Valley.
Can the industry do more to prevent the occurrences of these types of burns? Yes — ask the Napa Valley Grapegrowers Vineyard Burning Task Force."
Posted in Industry News, NVG News on Mar 30, 2017
By North Bay Business Journal
Rutherford grower Ted Hall of Long Meadow Ranch has been named the 2017 Napa Valley Grower of the Year.
Hall will be honored for his contributions to the Napa Valley wine industry and community on May 12 at Napa Valley Grapegrowers’ 42nd annual dinner. Award criteria are a strong commitment to sustainable practices, recognized leadership in agricultural preservation, dedicated community focus, contributions to the Napa Valley community and active promotion of Napa’s reputation for the highest-quality vineyards.
Posted in Press Releases on Mar 29, 2017
NAPA, CA (March 29, 2017) – Rutherford grower Ted Hall of Long Meadow Ranch has been named the 2017 Napa Valley Grower of the Year. Hall will be honored for his contributions to the Napa Valley wine industry and the community on May 12 at the Napa Valley Grapegrowers 42nd Annual Dinner.
Posted in Growing Season, NVG News on Mar 17, 2017
By Henry Lutz
The growing season has begun in Napa’s vineyards, with the first buds opening on vines from Carneros north to St. Helena. Over the coming weeks and months, shoots, leaves and berries will follow.
Caleb Mosley, senior viticulturist with Michael Wolf Vineyard Services, said Thursday that bud break is prevalent in the southern end of the county, citing a client’s blocks of chardonnay off Cuttings Wharf Road in the Carneros region.
“From what I’ve seen so far that’s where bud break is really taking off,” Mosley said.
Posted in Industry News, Napa Valley Farmworker Foundation on Mar 17, 2017
By Natalie Kitroeff and Geoffrey Motlan
Arnulfo Solorio’s desperate mission to recruit farmworkers for the Napa Valley took him far from the pastoral vineyards to a raggedy parking lot in Stockton, in the heart of the Central Valley.
Carrying a fat stack of business cards for his company, Silverado Farming, Solorio approached one prospect, a man with only his bottom set of teeth. He told Solorio that farm work in Stockton pays $11 to $12 an hour. Solorio countered: “Look, we are paying $14.50 now, but we are going up to $16.” The man nodded skeptically.