"Water & Vice: Producing Intoxicants in an Era of Extreme Drought"

"The thing about grapevines is that they evolved to deal with dry conditions, says P.J. Alviso, director of estate viticulture at Napa Valley’s Duckhorn Wine Company. There are no irrigation lines in nature, and vines became adept at living through dry summer months on the faint moisture left in the soil during winter precipitation. In fact, when it comes to fine wine grapes, the gradual drying of the soil through summer and into fall is what triggers the hormonal messages that make vines bring their fruit to maximum ripeness, which in turn yields more concentrated and better flavors in the resulting wine. In that regard, the past three years of drought have actually been a boon to high-end wine producers in the region... If the drought continues, it will be the purveyors of jug wines and other inexpensive labels on the bottom shelf that will suffer the most as their production levels fall. At the same time, it may be a boon to consumers, who could get a significantly more flavorful wine for a few dollars more...

It turns out it is not the patrician wine industry or the hipster-oriented craft brew culture that are most taxing California’s drought stricken water system. That honor falls, with a full twist of irony, on marijuana, hippy and “green” associations and all. The weed is both thirsty and dirty... A recent study by the California Department of Fish and Wildlife concluded that the demand for water to grow pot is greater than the total amount of water in the streams of some watersheds during the dry season, presenting a potentially lethal threat to salmon and steelhead trout."
http://nautil.us/blog/water--vice-producing-intoxicants-in-an-era-of-extreme-drought