 Growers will often withhold water early in the growing season to control the leaf canopy, which can have a beneficial business aspect by saving money compared to using costly viticultural chores such as sucker pruning, leaf striping and mildew treatment to control and tend to the leaf canopy.Applying a controlled amount of water during the ripening period following "veraison" encourages the grapes to ripen faster without a reductive loss in quality.One additional benefit of irrigation is frost protection.