Fancy a Drink? (Of water)

Just about every time I've drove through some sort of agriculture or farm land (growing whatever crop the area produces) in the US, I've always been struck by how technologically advanced and intricate the various irrigation systems are.  The one that especially catches my eye whenever I see it is a center pivot irrigation system, looking something like this:


Given how prevalent this sort of technology is for other crops, I was pretty surprised to learn that most wineries do not water their vineyards artificially like above.  And even those that do do so with incredibly sparing and meticulous use.  In France, for example, it was illegal by law to water wineyards until 2007.  And once it was allowed, it could only be done for a short stretch (the hottest period of Summer, unsurprisingly) on vineyards that had received special permits from the government.

Like many things related to wine, these rules generate from a bit of subjectivity and traditional belief that irrigated vineyards produce inferior wine (and France therefore produces superior wine by not irrigating).  However, there's little empirical evidence that this is in fact true.  Many great New World wines are irrigated according to what the respective winemaker believes is best for the grapes.  Irrigation can also make vines more abundant, and therefore help the same sized plots of lands produce more volume in a given vintage (cue comment that this could drive down price as well).

Given it's 2019 and wineries are experimenting more and more with innovative techniques like biodynamic farming, it's interesting that something as simple as 'watering the plants' is considered a huge no-no in many wine regions.  There are likely plenty of reasons for this, most of which have been institutionalized by the ever powerful Old World wine producers, but it's still a neat anecdote to consider when we think about where innovations might lie in the winemaking industry.

Sources:
https://www.jancisrobinson.com/articles/irrigation-now-official-in-france
https://beesource.com/point-of-view/joe-traynor/the-french-mystique-comparing-french-and-california-growing-conditions/
https://daily.sevenfifty.com/3-myths-about-irrigation-and-dry-farming/
https://napagrowers.org/storage/app/media/uploaded-files/Best%20Practices%20-%20Irrigation.pdf