Last week I attended a demonstration of an imported, Italian manufactured undervine slasher. It was being touted as “tomorrows technology available today“. The machine is being manufactured by Fischer. My good friend, colleague and winemaker of Gherardi wines - Jurg Muggli - is the sole distributor in Australia.
He has been waxing lyrical for years about […]

No I have not been away on holidays - time just got away from me. I am back at it and I promise the blogs will appear more regularly.
Since my last post I have looked closely at the fertiliser results and have put together what I consider a comprehensive fertiliser blend based on the soil and petiole […]

Finally received the soil analysis results which contained some surprises.  As usual there was a very low soil Phosphorous - especially in the gravels of the south west of Western Australia which have high levels of Iron and Aluminium and as a result a high Phosphorous Retention Index (PRI).  Also Manganese, Zinc and also Magnesium were at the low […]

The constant talk these days is about drought, global warming, greenhouse emissions and the impact on the environment and us humans going forward.  I must admit hearing, reading and viewing aspects of these topics has increased the general awareness - I bloody well hope so!
My vineyard is located on the southern bank of the Margaret River, facing […]

During picking the chiefs are an important group as they have a large picking group to control as well as keep them focussed on the task.  Some coaching is required outlining what is expected.  The usual things like pick all fruit but not bird pecked, diseased or shrivelled bunches.
  
Bin handling is a tricky job and even the big […]