KENWOOD, Calif.—Vineyard manager Steve Thomas grasps the trunk of a zinfandel vine, a redwood of the vineyard, gnarled with age and planted in the days when irrigation meant a barrel of water on a horse-drawn cart.
The work horses and carts are long gone. But these old zin vines at Kunde Estate in Sonoma County still get their water the old fashioned way, from rain, dew and a deep root system.

They call it "dry farming," the way agriculture used to be back befor...
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