Vineyard owners and grape growers lie awake at night trying to map a path to the future through today’s volatile market. Worries that run through their minds include the overflowing bulk market that is cancelling contracts and lowering grape prices, and the higher pay rates and immigration raids that are compounding an already stressed labor supply.

Two clear steps forward are to lower operational costs and reduce existing staff workload.

Automating irrigation management is a logical way to achieve this, as it reduces labor, water usage and materials costs. But small or mid-sized growers often forego these benefits because the automation price tag outweighs the return on investment. Instead, 95% of growers still choose to continue irrigating manually.

Verdi addresses this ROI concern with affordable irrigation automation technology that growers and their teams can easily install themselves without any training.

What makes Verdi unique is how its smart hardware and easy-to-use software work together to automate irrigation from end to end. At the heart of the system is the combination of wireless Block Controllers and the Verdi Dashboard, giving growers complete control over pumps, valves, sensors, and drip lines with real-time monitoring and action – without having to get in the truck and drive to the vineyard.

Verdi retrofits existing irrigation systems with battery-powered Block Controllers that execute irrigation commands automatically and can be installed in just 5 minutes. Each unit verifies irrigation events, eliminating the need to drive across rows to open or close valves. The system also sends instant alerts to a grower’s phone or computer if a line breaks or a valve fails, allowing them to pinpoint water loss as it happens.

The Verdi precision irrigation automation system saves growers up to 70% on labor and up to 30% on water usage. It can also increase yields by up to 20% and revenue per acre by of 21%.

Matthew Fortuna, of 50th Parallel Estate Winery, shares his experience: “Before Verdi, I would spend up to four hours a day turning on valves, turning on pumps, ensuring everything was working on our 50-acre vineyard. Now I can remotely plan and execute my irrigations within 15 or 20 minutes, which has really freed me up to do bigger and better things on our site.”

Because each block controller takes only 5 minutes to install, a 100-acre vineyard can be fully automated in a single morning. Growers can start with 20-50 acres as a test, rent the system by the year for a 30% lower cost or install their whole property with the confidence of a 90-day money-back guarantee. 

“Verdi wasn’t built for ideal conditions—we built it for tough years like this,” says Verdi’s co-founder Arthur Chen. “While others focus on complexity and scale, we focused on ROI, scalability and ease of use. Verdi is 1/10th the price of traditional automation and pays off in the first season—keeping farms running lean.” 

Learn how to achieve a make-or-break 10–20% cost reduction by visiting Verdi at WIN Expo booth 200 at the Sonoma County Fairgrounds on Dec. 4, 2026.

Exclusive Expo offer: Wine growers who book a demo by December 31, 2025, will receive a free soil moisture probe. All attendees visiting the Verdi booth are eligible.