Preparing the Vineyard for Winter

Autumn Frost in the Vineyard

The first frosts have already arrived and we are now preparing the vineyard for winter.

November is normally a quiet time on the vineyard as the main job in the winter is pruning, which doesn't start until December or January when the leaves have all fallen and the wood has ripened.

Having said that, Alex has been busy sowing grass seed between the rows of the newly planted vines and she is now tackling the weeds that have beaten the mulch. Chickory is a real problem some of which has survived from a ground cover the year before the vines were planted (please note JB!!). Unfortunately the woodchip we used this year was too fine and is not as good as the batch we used on the first block which is still working well.  On top of that the pheasant seem to enjoy spreading the woodchip about the place which has left the mulch very sparse on some rows. We will probably have to spread another 800 cubic metres of woodchip next Spring to win the battle of the weeds next year.

David Seyall with the grass seeder

In the next few weeks we are expecting delivery of a weather station which will monitor temperature, relative humidity, radiation and rainfall all of which will be viewable on an internet site. One of it's primary purposes will be to give us early warning of a frost in April/May after bud burst. Threshold values for temperature can be set which when triggered send a text message to a mobile phone - probably in the middle of the night!

Other tasks this winter will be to replace broken bamboo canes, complete the trellising and assess how many vines we will need to order to replace any that have died. Most importantly we also need to complete our strategy for minimising the risk of frost damage next Spring.

Pheasant in the Vineyard

In spite of there being nearly 2000 pheasant living at the top of our vineyard they haven't caused too much trouble this year.

The deer fencing keeps most of them out of the vineyard as they don't fly unless they are frightened. However those that do get in are too stupid to fly out and tend to walk up and down the fence boundary trying to find an exit. Steve, the local gamekeeper chases them out now and again with his dog, and when its dry we round them up using the Landrover. The shooting season is now well underway so we won't see much more of them soon!

The only damage this year has been to some of the newly planted vines at the top of the vineyard where they have eaten most of the green foliage. They also seem to enjoy scrabbling around in the woodchip mulch which has caused quite a mess in places.

Next year we will hopefully get our first harvest and I have heard stories of pheasant eating the grapes. We will probably have to net some of the rows next summer to protect the grapes from the pheasant and other birds.

The Vineyard in Autumn

The growing season is pretty well at an end and we are now busy getting the vineyard in good shape for the winter. At this time next year we will hopefully be preparing for our first harvest (volunteers welcome!) but there is no fruit this year as vines don't produce any real fruit until their 3rd year. What fruit there was has either been eaten by the birds or cut off so that the available carbohydrates have been used for growth of the canes and the root system. Next year we hope to get around 40% of the total possible yield from the first 5 acres of vines which could be as much as 6 tonnes.

The vines we planted last year have recovered well from the severe frost in May. The woodchip has worked well as a mulch and there are very few weeds. The grass between the rows will need cutting before the winter. The newly planted vineyard is being cleared of weeds and will be seeded with grass between the rows next week. The whole vineyard has been given a final spray of compost tea and various nutrients will be added in November to try to address Boron, Magnesium and Iron deficiencies.

Over the winter the main job will be to prune the vines. This will probably start in January and be completed during February and March. The new vines planted this May are doing quite well but because of the dry summer haven't grown as much as we would have liked. This will mean that they will pruned to just two buds to encourage root growth and a strong new cane next year.

The Weeds are Back!

In May we planted around 13,000 new vines. The dry summer meant that they haven't grown as much as we might have hoped, but there has been some catching up as a result of the much needed rain during the last couple of weeks.

The rain has also resulted in copious amounts of weeds and rape returning to the vineyard. The initial 5 acres we planted last year are substantially weed free thanks to the woodchip mulch and the grass between the rows. However we haven't grassed the new blocks yet and we need to get rid of the weeds before seeding the grass. To solve this problem we have borrowed a stone burier which not only buries stones but shreds and buries the weeds. The task should be finished by Alex this week with the help of Mihaela and her team who are doing some back breaking work pulling out the remaining weeds from the woodchip.

If the weather is ok we will seed the grass between the rows next week.

The Science of Viticulture

Peter Hayes lecturing at Brightwell Vineyard, Wallingford

On Monday I attended a Wine Skills Masterclass given by Peter Hayes. Peter is an expert in grape growing and vineyard management having spent more than 30 years in the Australian wine industry, including Director of Viticulture at Rosemount Estates.

We spent the day learning about numerous vine management techniques including canopy configuration, pruning influences, nutritional treatments and pest management; all with the aim of balancing vine development, crop load, quality and longevity.

Of particular note for our vineyard were various ways of reducing the risk of frost damage, including keeping an extra vertical cane until after the risk of frost damage and late pruning which can delay bud burst.

The more I learn about viticulture the less I realise I know!

PS The following is a link to an excellent paper titled "Practical Considerations for Reducing Frost Damage in Vineyards"

www.nzwine.com/assets/frost_review.pdf

Vineyard Agronomy

Chardonnay with Iron deficiency

Pinot Noir with Magnesium deficiency

It is essential to analyse the soil and vine tissue to understand the availability of nutrients in the soil. Even though we are organic, and never use herbicides or pesticides, it is sometimes necessary to apply nutrients to the soil and the vines to address any significant deficiencies.

Agronomy is the application of various soil and plant sciences to soil management and crop production. To advise us on such matters we employ the services of John Buchan, an excellent agronomist who specialises in organic viticulture.

John has just analysed the results of some recent soil and tissue samples and it seems that generally the overall results are encouraging. Whilst pH levels, at around 7.8, are still high, they are slightly lower than when we first analysed the soil. pH is a measure of the acidity of the soil and is important as a high pH can "lock up" nutrients restricting their availability to the vines. 

It's important to recognise that plant nutrition is a balancing act, as over application of any single nutrient can cause antagonism with other nutrients. Our priorities for this autumn and next spring will be improve the levels of Magnesium, Manganese and Iron, which are still very low.

As can be seen on the examples above, the leaves on some of the vines are already showing signs of these deficiencies.

ITV arrive at the Vineyard

ITV filming at the Silent Pool

Earlier this week an ITV film crew arrived at the vineyard but sadly only to use it as a car park! They were there to film a new drama series called The Oakes which will appear on our screens early next year. The plot involves a girl who drowns in a lake. The Silent Pool is a local beauty spot adjacent to the vineyard where they filmed the drowning.

Filming started at 8.00am and didn't finish until late into the evening, which I'm told will result in only 10 minutes screen time. It's apparently a low budget film but there were at least 25 cars parked in the vineyard, a huge amount of technical equipment and excellent catering to keep everyone well fed!