
Show Notes
Dry farming is more than just skipping irrigation—it's a deliberate practice that starts with soil stewardship. Lauryn Leeds Pesch of Chavez & Leeds Family Vineyards and Leeds & Pesch Vineyard Consulting shares her deep-rooted knowledge in dry farming, a technique that relies solely on stored winter and spring rainfall to meet a vine's needs. Learn about a $2M research initiative with the Department of Water Resources exploring water conservation in coastal California vineyards, the 5-step cultivation process, and how a new mapping tool can help you find and learn from neighboring dry-farmed vineyards.
Resources:
151: The Role of the Soil Microbiome in Soil Health 153: The Role of Nematodes in Soil Health 171: How to Farm Wine Grapes for Climate Change 177: The Role of Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungi with Paul Schreiner 181: Can Applying Compost Reduce Water Use? California Ag Water Stewardship Initiative California Ag Water Stewardship Initiative Dry Farming Dry Farming in Coastal California Vineyards Project Lauren Leeds Pesch Instagram @calidryfarming Lauren Leeds Pesch LinkedIn
Vineyard Team Programs:
Juan Nevarez Memorial Scholarship - Donate Online Courses – DPR & CCA Hours SIP Certified – Show your care for the people and planet Sustainable Ag Expo – The premiere winegrowing event of the year – Discount Code PODCAST25 Vineyard Team – Become a Member
More from Sustainable Winegrowing
By eliminating foil capsules and switching to lighter bottles, SAMsARA cut waste and emissions—reminding wine lovers that great wine doesn't need extra packaging. Resources:
Imagine one vineyard machine that can prune, harvest, monitor vine health, and help guide irrigation decisions throughout the season. Manoj Karkee, the Norman R. and Sharon R. Scott Professor of Agricultural Science at Cornell University, explores how artificial intelligence, robotics, and cyber-physical systems can make farming more efficient and economical. Learn how multipurpose and soft robotics can tackle vineyard tasks, how cameras and sensors feed AI models to guide crop management, and how human-robot collaboration reduces labor, input costs, and resource use.
When we talk about sustainability in wine, practices like conserving water, enhancing soil quality, and supporting biodiversity often come to mind. But sustainability is about more than caring for the land; it's about caring for the people behind every bottle.
Healthy soils are built through years of management decisions and sometimes rethinking old practices. Jim Lincoln, General Manager of Beckstoffer Vineyards in Napa Valley, shares how his approach to weed management has evolved from cultivation and herbicides to mowing, sheep grazing, cover crops, and no-till practices. Learn how these changes have improved under-vine soil health, influenced weed populations, and affected costs. Jim discusses the real-world tradeoffs of building soil health and the opportunities it creates to improve fruit quality.