The area I have settled in for the week is 20km inland from the Adriatic Sea and at an altitude of 3 – 400m. The countryside is a vista of olive groves, plots of vines, almonds, cherries and small vegetable patches growing tomatoes, capers and broad beans. Scattered amongst the plots are the Trulli which add to the picturesque nature of the landscape. They originally accommodated the field workers who constructed then from the stones collected as the soil was worked. Now they seem to accommodate the tourist who wants to experience a stay on a working farm.

The soil of this region has its origin from limestone as the base rock is Calcium Carbonate cap stone, dense yet with time is porous to water. The soil is deep red clay which is also very porous. I suspect therefore that it is very basic (neutral to high pH) as there is evidence of chlorosis in many of the vines.

The vine plots are rather small and have been tendered by the same vignerons for a long time. They almost know their vines individually.

Many are not trellised but those which are have a very simple system of fixed wires. Much hand work is done on a regular basis involving wrapping and tying of shoots together to allow access down the rows as well as offer protection of the fruit in case of storms. I have already experienced quite severe thunder, lightening and lashing rain but no hail. I guess it is a feature of an area where most of its rain comes during the growing season.

I did spend a little time comparing canopy management methods and finding out what spray regimes were applied. As the accompanying photos show some are open to discuss such things while others adopt a more defensive attitude.

In the end all was good and both sides managed to understand a little of what we discussed. Until I write from Umbria, 

Ciao from Vineman

  

This entry was posted on Monday, June 9th, 2008 at 2:44 am and is filed under Vineman, Vineman Tips, viticulture, Personal. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.