Our dry farmed estate old vines rely on winter rains to replenish the soil profile and get us through the season. This year (2021) we had very little winter rains, but water management can go beyond water use or input. Canopy management techniques are used to reduce water stress, these might include: reducing crop load shoot thinning and suckering nutrient management soil and vineyard floor practices In some ways the drought has really shifted our thoughts and practices to regenerative farming. Our goal is to store as much precipitation from winter rain in the soil as possible, as well as encourage root growth down to the water table source. This practice is also called dust mulching, wherein you cross cultivate to seal the moisture into the soil. Sometimes when worry sets in, I think about how these vines have been in the ground since 1927 and they have seen their fair share of drought and stress, yet they keep producing year after year.