Posted in Napa Valley Farmworker Foundation, NVG News on Feb 27, 2020
by Jill Barth
Roberto Juarez is the vineyard manager at Moulds Family Vineyards in the Oak Knoll District of Napa Valley. He is also curious and eager to expand his knowledge. To better read, write and speak English, he turned to the Napa Valley Farmworker Foundation.
“Today, my career has improved drastically,” says Juarez. “I have the ability to participate in all the meetings with the winemakers and our viticulture advisor.” Juarez is one of up to an estimated 9,000 farmworkers in Napa Valley, comprised increasingly of permanent residents, many with families. It’s estimated that women represent around 30% of the Napa Valley farmworker population.
Posted on Feb 27, 2020
by Sarah Klearman
Warm daytime temperatures have spawned the beginning of bud break in Napa Valley, growers in the Los Carneros appellation say.
Bud break is the first step in the growth cycle of grape vines, and an easily identifiable one: pruned vines boast new growth in the form of small, bright green buds.
Warmer temperatures this week likely spurred the bud break, which has begun mostly with younger vines in a handful of Napa Valley appellations. Los Carneros, which sits at the south end of the Napa Valley, shares its border with eastern Sonoma County, where growers announced bud break earlier this week.
Posted on Feb 09, 2020
by Sarah Klearman
Contestants positioned themselves deftly in their places. They willed themselves to concentrate, breathed deeply, and gripped their equipment. And then, given the signal, they began to prune.
One hundred and sixty contestants competed Saturday in Napa County’s 19th annual pruning contest, hosted by the Napa Valley Grapegrowers and the Napa Valley Farmworker Foundation. Though pruning season is quieter this time of year than, say, harvest – it’s one to which notably less headlines are devoted, anyway – it’s just as critical a time, according to Bertus Van Zyl, one of a cohort of judges scoring contestants on Saturday.
Click here to read the complete Napa Valley Register article.
Posted in NVG News, Press Releases on Jan 28, 2020
by Shawn Zylberberg
Many of the nation's top charity auctions enjoyed another record-breaking year in 2019. Wine lovers became local heroes as 13 auctions topped the $1 million mark in live bids, earning a spot on Wine Spectator's annual list of top charity wine events. Those highest-earning events raised a combined $44.1 million in live bids for underprivileged children, health initiatives and art and cultural institutions across the country.
Posted in Industry News, NVG News on Nov 15, 2019
by Kerana Todorov
The wine industry and scientists can collaborate to preserve biodiversity in the fight against climate change.
One key is to develop trust between researchers and producers and find workable solutions.
These were among the observations Dr. Olga Barbosa, a scientist at the Universidad Austral de Chile in Valdivia, Chile, made in Napa during a discussion on the role of the wine industry in protecting biodiversity.
Barbosa spoke at Rootstock, an event organized by Napa Valley Grapegrowers at Napa Valley Expo.
Altogether about 600 people attended the symposium which included other panels focusing on other issues such as vine diseases.
The Institute of Ecology and Biodiversity and Universidad Austral de Chile want to show that biodiversity conservation and the wine industry are compatible. The goal was to manage biodiversity not only in protected areas but also in developed agricultural land such as a planted vineyard.
“We think that wine has a great opportunity to be a leader on climate change,” Barbosa said.