Since the summer, high temperatures and heat waves have continued to sweep across many parts of the United States. About 70 percent of the western region is currently in a state of drought, and parts of California have been experiencing drought for three consecutive years. In California's famous wine region, although the grape harvest season is approaching, the ongoing drought has worried the relevant practitioners.
Sonoma County in California is an important wine producing region in California and one of the first regions in California to declare it in a state of drought.
California, USA: Three years of drought and little rainfall The winery has limited water storage
This year, the severe ongoing drought is in its third year. In response to prolonged dry weather, wineries have had to resort to a variety of methods of water storage, including investing in the construction of cisterns. However, due to insufficient rainfall, the water storage effect is also very limited.
California's wine-producing regions have suffered a rare drought for 128 years
The Government of Sonoma County, California, said the first half of the year was the driest 6 months in the past 128 years, with rainfall 20 inches below normal. This has reduced the water storage capacity of Lake Sonoma, on which the region depends for its survival, to 50%.
Now that the harvest season is approaching, the wine cellars in northern Sonoma County say that years of dry weather have indeed affected grape growth.
Henry Belmont, Manager of Wellington Winery in Sonoma County, California, USA: It is the transition period of grapes, and the color of grapes will change from light to dark. If there is a problem with the water supply, the grapes may not change color.
During the color change period, the sugar in the grapes begins to increase, while the acidity begins to weaken. If the soil is too arid, it will not be conducive to sugar accumulation and coloring. Belmont said natural disasters such as fires and droughts and extreme weather have challenged operations since the acquisition of Wellington Winery in 2014. Among them, long-term droughts have greatly pushed up the cost of water.
The Nasdaq Willis California Water Index, which tracks prices for water rights in California's five most traded regions, shows that the water index has surged nearly 64 percent this year as of Aug. 16.
For well-funded wineries, transporting water by truck or spending tens of thousands of dollars on pipelines can mitigate the effects of drought. However, some underfunded wineries have had to halve or even abandon some varieties.
Sonoma County produces 6 percent of California's wine production, with a total retail value of about $8 billion a year, and a quarter of the jobs in the country are provided by the industry.
California lost a total of $1.7 billion to drought in 2021
In 2021, the direct and indirect damage caused by drought to California totaled $1.7 billion, of which $1.1 billion was lost in agriculture. California lost more than 14,000 jobs and forced about 160,000 hectares of farmland to fallow.
The analysis predicts that California's grape production could be further reduced in 2022 due to the ongoing drought, which will put further upward pressure on wine prices.
Source: CCTV Finance