The Desert Wine Guy - Will Las Vegas Soon Be The New Napa Valley

Dennis Eckmeyer, left, and Daniel Hopper work at pruning grape vines at the University of Nevada vineyard. There is a group pushing to make it legal to make wine and sell it in Washoe and Clark Counties.  (Photo: Marilyn Newton/RGJ )

  Welcome back to The Desert Wine Guys wine blog everyone. Today I am going to write an article on the future of Winery's & Vineyards in the Las Vegas area. I feel it is necessary to first dispel some myths when it comes to growing grapes. Before I move into the body of this article I want to remind everyone of one thing and that thing is that the grape is only a means for the vine to reproduce, that is all. It just so happens we as man as found other uses for the grape but when it comes down to it it is only a means for reproduction of the species. Now let's go ahead and learn about growing wine grapes in Las Vegas.
  There are three myths that I would like to dispel when it comes to growing wine grapes in Las Vegas. While I never set out to dispel these three myths it did come as a shock to me when I discovered that they were just that, myths and had no basis in reality. As a matter of fact as I went on with my garden of Tomatoes, Peppers and Watermelon (that's right) in general before growing wine grapes I quickly became amazed that Las Vegas doesn't have a large agriculture industry. With this being said let's go ahead and move to the main part of the article. 
  The first myth I would like to discuss is the one that says that grapes require a lot of water to grow correctly.
  We have all eaten grapes and tasted all the juice and sugar in them. Would it surprise you to know that grapevines do not require or even like a lot of water? I know that prior to learning and developing two small Vineyards I also believed the water myth so don't feel bad. The first thing to know about the water myth concerning grapes is that rain is NOT good for the grapes themselves. Rain can actually ruin grapes by seeping into the grape and diluting the sugar as well as the acid level. Rain during flowering time can actually knock the flowers off thereby meaning no buds and therefore no grapes. If you notice any time you visit Vineyards there are no sprinklers? If you continue to pay attention you will see a drip system with individual drip spouts that are offset from the base of each individual vine by about six (6) inches. Even though there is a drip system, too much water from any means is not a good thing when it comes to grapes. If a vine gets too much water there will be an overgrowth of vegetation (leaves) which will mean small clusters due to the plants energy being used not only for the grapes but the vegetation as well. One other issue with too much water is the fact that the water hitting the soil will eventually spread out across the top of the soil and the roots will follow and therefore stay just underneath the soil level. If the temperature in Las Vegas is 110 degrees than it stands to reason that the top of the soil is pretty hot, that is not where we want the roots to be. The vines will do better if the water goes deep and the roots follow it there. Having just touched on the second myth of grape growing let's go right on ahead and discuss that second myth.  
  The second myth I would like to discuss in relation to Las Vegas is heat. Isn't it way to hot in Las Vegas for any type of fruit or Vegetable to grow?
  I have heard it said to me many times "what about the heat, isn't it too hot in the Desert"? What does heat do to wine grapes? The answer to this depends upon the varietal of grape grown. There are grapes that actually prefer cold or cool weather climates such as the Pinot Noir or Riesling varietals and grapes that prefer the hot or warm weather climates such as the Cabernet Sauvignon or Sauvignon Blanc varietals. Remember that in hot weather climates the only thing protecting the grapes from the heat is the leaves of the vine.  This is one reason why roper pruning is very important.  There are various other reasons for pruning such as prevention of disease but for this article we will simply stick to the fact that proper pruning works to protect the grapes themselves. If you prune the leaves too much than the grapes are exposed to the direct Sunlight and will dry up and die quickly. On the other hand if you don't prune enough the grapes don't get enough sun and that is not good either. Heat however does result in an early harvest of wine grapes There are many areas of this country that grow (successfully) wine grapes and have identical weather to Las Vegas with one area being Arizona. The grapes that prefer one type of weather over the other will sometimes grow outside their preferred areas but the wine they make will not GENERALLY be as good as if they are growing in their preferred area.  

Pinot Noir grapes

  The third and final myth I would like to discuss is the soil the grapes are grown in. I am sure we have all heard of "Rutherford Dust".
  "Rutherford Dust" is supposed to come from only the AVA of Rutherford California and refers to the combination of the terroir (soil) or as Mike Smith form the McGah Family Cellars says gives the wine a powdery "fine dusty tannin". There is even "The Rutherford Dust Society" (http://rutherforddust.org/) which is a winery association dedicated to promoting Napa’s Rutherford appellation (a subset of the larger Napa Valley AVA).  Is "Rutherford Dust" marketing hype or is it real? That's up to you to decide for yourself. I am not going to tell you that soil is not important to growing grapes because it is......to an extent. There are however different characteristics in soils that help or hinder the growing of grapes. There are generally 4 different types of soil. These types are Sandy, Clay based, Silty and Loam. The soil I have come across here in my Vineyards in Las Vegas are a combination of Sandy and Clay soils. My personal experience digging the soil to plant my vines is that there is an initial top level of  medium size Boulders followed by Sandy soil that is loose and ready for roots to grow easily. To see exactly what the makeup of my soil is  here (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=INrR9qsyNrM) is my YouTube video showing the different layers of soil I had to dig thru in order to plant my vines. As I have said, once thru the first two feet of soil the remainder was sandy and very workable. The thing about the soil in Las Vegas is that when it gets wet it becomes a sort of Clay and therefore holds water very well and yet is not tough enough to discourage the vines from growing. Since the Roots of our Grape Vines are supposed to be trained to grow deep into the ground rather than spread across the soil this is good for them. While I have never had my soil tested I can only tell you what I have personally experienced and what I have personally experienced is successfully growing wine grapes.

Riesling Grapes

  Let's now take a look at the current state of wine grape industry in Las Vegas. It is very early in the development stage of wine industry here in Las Vegas but headway is being made to create a one. In May of  2015 Assembly Bill 4 was passed and signed by the Governor allowing Winery's in county's that have populations of more than 100,000 people in it. Prior to this the law being passed the law said that county's with a population of more that 100,000 people such as Clark County (Las Vegas) could not have a Winery. While there were some Wineries in Nevada already in the areas of Reno which is 8 hours out of the Las Vegas area and Pahrump which is 2 hours out of the Las Vegas area there were never any in Las Vegas. The Las Vegas area has now become fertile ground for Napa Valley style Winery's. The bill had a protectionist parts to it such as the fact that 25% of the grapes for the winery's in Nevada had to come from Nevada after the first 1,000 cases of wine each year  the existing winery's in Reno and Pahrump will not have to meet those requirements for 10 years. While some see this as a negative I believe it can only help Las Vegas and the state of Nevada as a whole.      
  It appears that things are looking up for the very real possibility of a wine industry here in the Golden State. At this time however there is nothing more to report on that future wine industry here in Las Vegas at this time. As far as I know there are no Napa winery's or any other state Winery's that have shown any interest in expanding to Nevada or Las Vegas. From what I understand the only Winery's that helped the bill pass were those in this state. 
  So in closing there you have it folks, a little overview of the up and coming state of wine grapes in the Las Vegas area. With Assembly Bill 4 the door has been opened for the wine industry in Las Vegas to excel past that of Arizona which itself does $30 million a year. I will go further based on information that I have from some wine industry insiders in Arizona.  With the water problems in California that ARE affecting the wine industry there I predict that Arizona will see an increase in their revenue and Las Vegas will start a new boom and that boom will be a reputable wine industry probably backed by the Casino industry.  Keep in mind that this will not happen over night since grape vines take a minimum of 3 years to prepare to even support grapes. I say give Las Vegas a minimum of 5-6 years and the Napa Valley will be shaking in it's boots.

                                                                                                                   The Desert Wine Guy

　
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