From the Fields - Daryn Miller

By Daryn Miller, Monterey County winegrape grower and San Luis Obispo County citrus and avocado farmer 

I have a vineyard management company called Monterey Pacific. We farm about 3,600 acres of winegrapes in Monterey County.

Right now, we’re commencing our fungicide spray passes. After all this rain, we’re going to have a little bit higher mildew pressure possibly this year. We’re getting close to bloom in the next couple weeks, so we’re doing some fertilizers as well.

We’ve had to have a lot of weed control going on, doing a lot of mowing to keep up with all the cover crops that have grown throughout the winter and in the spring.

On top of all that, what I’m focusing on is a lot of redevelopment—replanting about 400 acres between two ranches.

It’s an interesting time in the wine business. Fortunately, there is still quite a bit of interest from wineries needing more fruit. We’re hopeful that things pick up more, so we can find a home for a lot of these grapes.

The main varieties we have are chardonnay and pinot noir, but we also have other varieties. We have some grenache and some cabernet. The primary reason for not planting more chardonnay and pinot is because there’s such an abundance of those varietals in the county. While they do very well in Monterey County, we want to diversify and not put all our eggs in the same basket.

In any business endeavor, you make sure you’re covering your bases and providing some products that will have interest from various different parties rather than just the main big wineries.

We’re really trying to put in a lot more mechanization and trellis systems where we can hopefully mechanize as much as possible because we don’t have enough labor.

I also do agronomy and pest control work for my family’s citrus and avocado operation in San Luis Obispo County. With citrus, it’s been a cool spring so far. We’re all hoping for warmer temperatures for better fruit-set weather. It’s always a big determinant—how the weather corresponds with the time of year. Hopefully, we get a good fruit set this year. Basically, we need to get enough warm days. Having only cold and windy conditions can be a detriment to setting fruit.