Just a short note to keep you all updated on the 2007 wines and where they are at. 

The Merlot is sleeping quietly in barrel, woken every 3 months to be assembled in tank and then put back into nice clean barrels again.  It is developing beautifully and the aim is to bottle it during late winter 2008.  Should be the best yet!

The wine that seems to be forging a name is the Viognier. The 2007 win spent five months in barrels having been fermented in them.  This is one ‘hell’ of a wine similar in many ways to the very successfull 2004.

At the end of fermentation we achieved an alcohol of 14%+ and having spent the five months on yeast lees, it has developed similar mouthfeel and fullness as the 2004.  I believe it just needs 6 - 12 months in the bottle to show its wares.  Jurg Muggli, the winemaker, is also extremely happy with the result.

I thought I would be bold and show it at the Mt Barker wine show recently and given that it had only been in the bottle a matter of weeks, it picked up a very highly pointed Bronze medal.  Not bad I thought! 

I am expecting great things from this wine.  Only problem is there is not much of it due to the very low yields of the 2007 vintage.  Shall keep you all posted on how it develops.

Vineman

Technorati Tags: Merlot, Viognier, barrels, fermentation, lees

Back in late August I posted explaining why it was important to wrap the canes in the Viognier block in an arched cinfiguration, that is not flat along the fruiting wire.  I will explain and show you the results - please read on.

Firstly bud burst occurred in early September and was accompanied by some very wet weather.  The first eight days of the month resulted in excess of 70mm of rain.  From then until the end of the month a further 100mm fell with all but two days recording rainfall.  September has been the second wettest month this year.  Generally conditions were cool to cold and I am reasoning that ground temperatures remained very cold, impacting significantly on the rate of growth of the new shoots.

Generally across the region budburst has been early, however shoot growth has been slowed by the weather conditions during Septemer.  I have noticed in cane pruned vines that while most buds burst early a number have failed to progress because once checked in their emergence they do seem to continue on as a strong shoot.  I am not sure as to the reasons here.

What happend in the Viognier? Did the arch canes work?

As you can see above, both canes have shoots in a hit and miss fashion along their length.  Some success was achieved in getting the top of the arch to throw some shoots.  There are still sections with dormant buds.  I must point out that this was not very common as you will see below.

Here there is a more even number of shoots along the canes and more importantly around the middle section which is the arched portion.  This means that the percentage of buds bursting has been improved and an initial glance shows that the potential yield should be improved as well, and that’s the important thing.  Vineman needs more Viognier fruit!

Generally, the block looks the best it has for some seasons, shoots are now starting to grow well and here’s hoping for some kind weather with sunshine and warmth particularly as we move towards flowering. 

Vineman

Technorati Tags: Viognier, budburst, dormant

While pruning has been a little drawn out this year, I have achieved delaying it until August and as I have stated before, it is preferable to prune later rather than earlier.

Now, you just can’t keep the Minister for communication (yes the same one as mentioned on the Gherardi 2005 Viognier label) away from a camera and I must say it was her first venture into the vineyard for a very long time.

You see I often say “I am down the hill” or “I am in the vineyard “- I have often wondered how much registers some times.

She obvously spotted this yellow bodied, red legged insect bobbing and walking along the rows and was fascinated to see what was happening. With trepidation she ventured down the hill, camera at the ready.

She wondered was he alone or did he have company?

Caddie was on duty basking in the spring sunshine oblivious of most things apart from the odd bird or tourist walking along the river track.

There were also some eight legged friends who had been busy constructing their traps. Great sign having these guys in the vineyard.

Finally she discovered what was going on. The Viognier was being wrapped down, but alas not by the conventional method, there was something a little different happening.

You see if canes are laid flat along the wire you usually end up with poor budburst along the cane - Apical Dominanace! This where the buds at the end and near the crown burst BUt those in the middle do not. If you arch OR bend them then it improves the numbers of buds bursting in this part of the cane.

This method is used rather than apply chemicals to enhance the budburst. The overall aim is to improve the fruiting potential from this clone of Viognier as it has proven a rather shy yielder thus far.

Signs of bud swell are evident and so the early oil and sulphur sprays are urgently needed.

Vineman

Technorati Tags: Gherardi, Viognier, apical dominance, budburst, buds

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 this machine. I have been hearing nothing but how there isn’t anything available in Australia which comes near to the job it does. I was also told that it can mow under the vine and very close to posts and vines with a very good result.  I was also told how it will reduce tractor passes, reduce soil compaction, eliminate pruning sweeping as well ensure a cleaner overall vineyard.

I must admit that I was sceptical on it’s robustness and whether the job it was suppose to do could in fact be done. More and more of us are wanting to cut down on the use of herbicides and have been hanging out for “the perfect undervine mower”!

Well, I must say I was very impressed. The machine is extremely robust, built of very thick steel, well finished yet not excessively complicated. It is PTO driven with its own hydraulic oil supply.

The sensitivity of the retractable mowing domes was impressive as was the job done. The blades are very durable and even managed to mulch prunings left both under the vine and in the mid row.

This pic shows the vine row and inter-row prior to mowing.

This is the completed job - very impressive!

 The recoil action was very sensitive and tit should be noted that the size of the dome is dependent on the vine spacing along the row. The closer the vine then you would opt for a smaller disc size.

 The outrigger domes actually float along the ground surface as they are on a concave metal disc which determines the depth of cut or the the height of the grass left. This ensures that the blades, as far as one can tell, do not plough into the soil should the ground become uneven.

There was very keen interest from those who attended and a number of orders to be placed over the coming days.

Jur Muggli can be contacted for further information via email at jmuggli@fischeraustralis.com.au

Vineman

Technorati Tags: Fischer, Gherardi, slasher, PTO, compaction

Yes, as promised, the secateurs were sharpened and from the stiff and swollen right hand I have at the moment,  I can vouch that I have done a few days pruning.

Started with some cane pruning of the Viognier (Montpellier clone) where I use hand secateurs as I like to pull the canes out of the wires as I go. Takes a little longer but you can actually see some progress.  The HTK clone of Viognier is grafted and as a result has much greater vigour. I think I will have to resort to the electric secateurs here as the cuts are larger, the gong will be slower and I will need to conserve my energy for the 5,000 Merlot vines.

Speaking of the Merlot, in preparation for its pruning I had it pre-pruned by machine on Saturday.

This can be done where one spur prunes, that is cutting back to two bud spurs. It saves a lot of time as the vertcal canes are mulched by the multi-bladed spinning head which is hydraulically driven.

The head straddles the vine row and is manipulated around the posts trying not to cut the wires. A good operator can move along at between 3 and 4 kms/hour.

As seen it does a great job cuting just above the lower set of foliage wires. All the vertical canes which have been chopped up mostly fall to the ground.

What remains is a series of short 4 to 6 bud spurs ready to be pruned back to two buds. This job is then very quick and relatively easy.

Keep you posted on the progress.

Vineman