Chapter 6 - Vineyard Management Flashcards
Name 3 factors in vineyard site selection
Environmental - weather/climate, aspact, soil etc.
Business considerations - infrastructure, available workforce, cost of land, accessibility etc
Grape variety - environmental suitability, demand and legislation
Around what age are most vines replaced?
30-50 years
Pro’s and con’s of old vines
Better quality grapes, with higher flavour concentration
Lower yields and more susceptible to disease
How long does vineyard land need to ‘rest’ after vines are dug up?
3 years (or more)
What are the 4 main techniques for managing the vine(yard)?
Pruning, training, trellising and density of planting
What does vine training refer to?
The shape of the permanent wood
Which 2 categories are there in training systems?
Head training - very little permanent wood, sometimes only a trunk (both spur and replacement pruned)
Cordon training - a trunk with one or more permanent horizontal arms. Longer to achieve, but in the end easier for mechanical harvest
What is pruning?
The removal of unwanted leaves, canes and permanent wood. Shaping the vine and limiting its size.
When is pruning done?
In winter - determining the number and location of buds that will form into shoots
And in summer
What 2 styles of winter pruning are there?
Spur pruning - short sections of one year old wood that have been cut down to 2 or 3 buds
Replacement cane pruning - long sections of one year old wood, with 8-20 buds. One or 2 canes are retained and trained horizontally to the trellis.
What is Guyot training
Replacement cane training. Double of single, referring to one or two canes
What is summer pruning?
Trimming to canopy to stimulate and direct the sugar production to the fruit instead of the leaves. And ensuring optimum sun exposure
What is a bush vine and why would a grower choose it?
An untrellised vine where shoots will hang down low to the ground.
In hot regions such as the Southern Rhone and Barossa Valley, the vine is better protected against heat and overexposure.
In colder or wetter regions, it can disrupt ripening and/or promote (fungal)disease
What is a gobelet?
An untrellised vine where the tips of the vines are tied together to help expose them to sunlight and airflow.
This is used in beaujolais.
What is canopy management
The trellis and how canes and shoots are tied to it
What are 3 main reasons for choosing canopy management (trellised vines)?
Controlling exposure to sunlight (over exposure vs under exposure)
Improving air circulation, fighting disease
Making mechanisation possible
What is the most widely used canopy management system?
VSP - Vertical Shoot Positioning
What is VSP?
Vertical Shoot Positioning - when a vine’s shoots are trained vertically en tied to a trellis, forming a single narrow canopy.
Keeping the canopy as open, aired and sun exposed as possible
What is done in VSP in hot, sunny regions to create extra shade?
The vines are flopped over the top
What is planting density?
The number of plants per 100x100 meter (hectare)
Low = 1000 High = 10000
What is a factor that influences a growers density dicision?
The availability of nitrients and water
What is yield?
The amount of grapes produced. Counted in weight of grapes per hectare, or hectoliters of wine per hectare.
Yields are often subject to regulation
What makes prediction of yield difficult?
Frost damage, poor fruitset, pests and diseases can all influence yield. And is hard to predict
What can be done to reduce yields?
Green harvest. Removing immature grapes right after veraison
What is a risk of green harvest?
If done too early, a plant might compensate by swelling up exsisting grapes. Diluting the flavours and increasing yields.
What is the best options against birds?
Netting
What are nematodes?
Microscopic worms that attack the roots, interfering with water and nutrient intake.
As well as tranferring diseases.
What can be done against nematodes
Prevention is best:
- sanitising the soil before (re)planting
- planting rootstocks that are resistant
Name 2 types of fungal disease
Downy and powdery mildew - warm humid environments, affect all green parts, grapes lose flavour
Grey rot - Botrytis Cinerea, damp conditions, attacks grapes, influences flavour and colour.
Sometimes positive: noble rot
In what way is fungal disease controlled?
Usually chemical sprays. Powdery mildew by sulfur and downy by Bordeaux mixture (copper based). Which has to be stopped leading up to harvest
Or canopy management
What is the effect of a virus infection?
It does not kill but limits production and quality.
The only way to ‘cure’ is to dig up the vines and sanitising the land
What is the effect of bacterial infection?
It reduces grape quality and quantity, and sometimes kills the plant
What are ways to fight bacterial infection?
There is no cure. But quarantine and killing sharpshooters (the bug most responsible) is the best way to combat the spread.
Also: digging up the vines and sanitising the land
Why is the use of chemical spraying being reduced?
Because of the environmental impact both in the vineyard as wel as the surrounding areas
What are 3 main options for grape growers wishing to reduce the amount of spraying in their vineyards?
Sustainable agriculture
Organic agriculture
Biodynamic agriculture
What is sustainable agriculture?
Man made chemicals are restricted and only applied when they are most effective. This requires a deep understanding of the lifecycles of pests and weather forecast.
Biodyversity is encouraged, creating a natural form of pest-control
What is organic agriculture?
Same as sustainable agriculture, only with a very limited number of very traditional treatments allowed.
Why are some organic wines subject to stricter rules than others?
There are multiple certification bodies in the world. Each with their own set of rules
What is one universal rule for organic certification?
Vineyards must undergo a conversion period
What is Biodynamic Agriculture
Based on the work of Rudolph Steiner. very strict Organic practises with added philosophy and cosmology.
Vineyards are seen as a part of a connected system of planet Earth, the air and other planetary bodies.
Homeopathic remedies (preparations) are used as fertiliser and pest control
What is the main way of tracking a grape’s ripeness?
Sugar levels
When does harvest begin?
When the grower and/or winemaker think that there is a perfect balance between sugar, acid, flavour and tannin specifically for their wine.
It is partially a judgement call
What are outside influences that can cause a grower to chage the moment of harvest?
Weather conditions such as rain (diluting the juice) or hail (damaging the fruit)
What factors influence the decision to harvest by machine or hand?
Planting decisions, labour (avail and cost), topography of the vineyard, weather conditions and wine making choices.
What is the downside of machine harvest?
They are not selective, also taking with them unripe berries, rotten fruit, leaves, bugs etc
What is MOG?
Material Other than Grapes
What is the advantage of machine harvest?
Speed - against incoming bad weather or quick over ripening (sauvignon blanc)
Working through the night - harvesting cool grapes and slowing oxidation
Why are machines not used in Beaujolais and Champagne?
They need whole bunches for fermentation, machines shake of ripe grapes not bunches
What are advantages of hand picking?
Grape selection, less damage to individual grapes, transportation in shallow crates.
Ability to harvest on very steep slopes (Douro, Mosel and Northern Rhone)
