Growing up in the small town of Shandon, CA, Alberto was told that success might be out of reach. But working side by side with his father in the vineyards, he learned that dreams are worth fighting for. After graduating high school with honors, Alberto earned a welding certificate at Cuesta...

The recent rain we’ve been getting is certainly a welcome change. Wet weather does, however, present other challenges especially going into the pruning season. That’s right. I’m talking about trunk disease. It’s everywhere, and like viruses, growers like to pretend they don’t have it. After all, it...

The following is an excerpt from a recent blogpost reprinted from WBM, 2009 by Mark Greenspan. The moderate climate enjoyed by the North Coast is frequently interrupted by periods of high heat. The heat waves can reach well into the 100’s, sometimes reaching above 115°F. While foliage is...

Everyone associated with the wine industry knows that labor has become more expensive, and it seems that wages are accelerating upward. The pool of largely unskilled or untrained labor is drying up, while those who remain available want more money for their work—and are getting it. Hence, there is...

I'm not going to go ahead and say that I don’t think pruning is taken seriously enough. So why is it that I see poorly pruned vineyards so often? I think that most growers and viticulturists know very well how to prune grapevines and could do a great job of it on their own—if that were possible....