Case Study Summary
Located just north of Paso Robles in California’s Central Coast, Vino Vargas Winery operates in a region defined by complex terrain, slopes, and wind-driven microclimates. These localized conditions directly influence pest pressure, irrigation needs, crop development, and harvest timing.
To manage this variability, Vino Vargas Winery relies on hyperlocal weather intelligence from Western Weather Group’s database to support daily vineyard and landscape decisions—while also collaborating more effectively with regional growers.
Location
San Miguel, CA
Participating organization
Vino Vargas Winery, Paso Robles Wine Country Alliance (PRWCA)
Products used
WWG Database for Chill Hours & ETo& Growing Degree Days
Problem
Determine chill hours for integrated pest management (pesticide, fungicide) applications, Reference Evapotranspiration (ETo) values for irrigation purposes and determining local growing degree days for sugar accumulation predications in grapes.
Solution
Navigating the WWG on-line weather database to access near real-time weather data and historical hourly and daily weather information to make agronomic decisions in the vineyard
The Vino Vargas Winery is located just north of Paso Robles. The area has a diverse set of micro-climates and their location is no different due to the slopes and wind patterns. Their original use of weather data was for integrated pest management on their fruit trees and their landscaping plants and trees.
They track chill hours for timing of dormant applications to both. With fruit trees it’s easy to see when they are dormant, but with many of their landscape plants that are evergreen making a wrong application is worse than the pest or fungus they are trying to control. The weather data also lets them closely monitor reference evapotranspiration and growing degree-days for control of watering and fertilization. Plus, they source their grapes from areas that are equipped with Western Group’s weather stations and during grape harvest the climate information lets them make better harvest decisions in partnership with their growers.
They are now planning to plant several blocks of Chardonnay and Pinot Noir for their sparkling wine program. The available weather information from local stations and the historical weather data have been extremely useful in selecting rootstocks, scions and in general laying out the blocks for optimum performance. With Western Weather Group’s highly detailed information Vino Vargas Winery feels they are armed with the right climate data to make their plants healthy, make proper harvest decisions and give their customers a great winery experience.