The severity of the situation has forced growers to consider a new way to weather the storm – vineyard “mothballing.” According to Chen, mothballing was first done at scale in Australia, where growers rode out a severe downturn in the early 2000s. Growers must weigh costs, benefits of mothballing and restoring vineyardsBefore choosing to mothball, of course, growers need the math to pencil out. “That ‘cost now’ versus ‘expenses later’ calculation really determines whether it’s worth it or not to do mothballing,” Chen said. “If you do have a plan B, maybe vineyard mothballing is not really beneficial for you,” he said.