WINE: Water board to consider sprinkler frost-control regulation

North Coast winegrape growers and fish-protection groups are set to gather in Sacramento on April 7 for a workshop called by the State Water Resources Control Board on what immediate action, if any, needs to be taken on federal regulator concerns that grower use of water for frost protection will kill protected fish.

The water board called for the workshop, set to start at 11 a.m., partly because of the Feb. 27 statewide drought proclamation and early March low-water-level determinations in Lake Mendocino, which feeds the Russian River. Another key part was a Feb. 19 letter from the National Marine Fisheries Service linking sprinkler use during severe frost in April 2008 and reports that month of beached juvenile protected fish on the Russian River near Hopland and Felta Creek, which feeds Mill Creek then Dry Creek.

Growers are concerned that the state water board shortly after April 7 will cut them off from using sprinklers when needed, David Koball, vine chief for Fetzer Vineyards and a scheduled workshop speaker, told a California Farm Bureau publication last week. In its workshop notice, the water board noted that in 1974 it took court action to stop Napa Valley growers from tapping Napa River water all at once for frost protection.

Also part of the workshop is set to be discussion of the recently formed public-private Russian River Frost Protection Task Force, which has been looking for solutions, such as staggered use of water.

There are about 1,750 water rights claims, holders and applications in the Russian River watershed and an estimated 800 reservoirs without records of permits, according to the water board.

Workshop details are posted at www.waterrights.ca.gov/hearings/russian_river_frost. Comments are due via e-mail, with “4/7/09 Russian River Frost Protection Workshop” in the subject line, by noon April 2 to the board clerk at commentletters@waterboards.ca.gov. The workshop is set to be broadcast at www.calepa.ca.gov/Broadcast/.

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Speaking of water-supply solutions for North Coast growers, the California Land Stewardship Institute, which manages the Fish Friendly Farming cooperative-conservation program, is vying for money from the 2008 federal Farm Bill and the new federal economic-stimulus bill for what is being called the Northern California Wine Country Agricultural Water Project, according to institute Executive Director Laurel Marcus.

The goal is to fund construction of 510 acre-feet of irrigation and frost-control ponds at 12 to 15 sites in the Ukiah and Anderson valleys of Mendocino County as well as use of recycled water from the Los Carneros Water District for irrigation in that winegrowing region of southern Napa and Sonoma counties.

The institute also is working with $98,000 from an Environmental Protection Agency grant to fund a one-year study on low-water sprinklers, microemitters and other cutting-edge frost-control technologies.

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Gary Ramona, general manager of the Domaine Napa division of Bronco Wine Co., resigned from the company.

Stephen Brauer returns to the North Coast as the new managing director of the Napa-based Americas group of Australian beer and wine giant Foster’s Group, starting April 13. In mid-February, Foster’s removed Scott Weiss, who had been with the company since 2004. Mr. Brauer was tapped in August 2006 as vice president and general manager of the New York-based U.S. marketing arm of French alcoholic beverage giant Pernod Ricard, which owns Mumm Napa.

Mike Jaeger will replace Andy Fromm as president and chief operating officer of St. Helena-based wine sales and marketing company Wilson Daniels Ltd. as of April 2. Mr. Jaeger will continue to be a senior adviser for San Francisco-based wine-focused mezzanine and private-equity investor Bacchus Capital Management LLC, which he joined as president and chief operating officer in April 2008. Before Bacchus, Mr. Jaeger was president and chief operating officer of Partida Tequila after serving as president of the U.S. wine business of Vincor International and group president of Constellation Brands. Mr. Fromm came to Wilson Daniels in March 2005.

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Submit items for this column to Jeff Quackenbush at jquackenbush@busjrnl.com, 707-521-4256 or fax 707-521-5292.