A question to all who grow there own grapes;

I live in Southern California and have pocket gophers on my property. I
will be receiving my first grapevines in January sometime and would like to
know how people handle gophers and if gophers are attracted to grapevine
roots.

My thought is to encircle hardware cloth (small 1/4 inch fencing) around the
roots and trunk as I plant the vines. I would probably sink the fence about
1.5 feet under ground and let it run about 1.5 feet above the ground. I am
concerned that the underground portion might constrict the roots over the
years as the plant gets larger.

Does anyone have an opinion on this. Do I even need to bother at all. I
will post to a gardening group if I don't get an answer here. Thanks.

ps- I will not poison, kill, or trap the gophers. I have a barn owl nestbox
up to control the population but I believe in living WITH nature, not
dominating it.