D1 Vineyard establishment

Question 1

When establishing a new vineyard

Answer 1

Site selection, soil preparation, planting material, nutrient and water management, canopy management.

Question 2

Site selection

Answer 2

When choosing a site selection, growers need to make considerations based on the quality and style of wine made:

• The growing environment (elevation, )
• The price of the land itself.
• Water cost for irrigation, if needed.
• Cost implications due to hazards related to the area (frost, pests).
• Option for mechanisation or labour
• distance from the winery need to be consider to ensure healthy grapes can be delivered with limited risk of oxidation and microbial spoilage.
• Distance from the cities for labour, supplies and distributions.
• Laws may stipulate which grape variety can be use, maximum yields and viticultural and winemaking practices.

Terroir: means land. A wine shows a sense of place. Climate, soil, aspect, elevation.

Ex for considerations:
High volume, inexpensive wine needs high yield of healthy grapes, produced cheaply.
Site selection:
- Flat site, allows mechanisation, quicker and cheaper.
- Flat, Fertile and warm site, means high yields.
- Dry climate. Reduce fungal disease, saving money on spraying and grape sorting).

Ex.
Expensive, premium wines.
Aspect, elevation, water body are taken in consideration.

Question 3

Soil preparation

Answer 3

The key faction for soil preparation are structure, drainage, nutrients and the presence of pests or unwanted plant.

The structure describes the firmness (important for water drainage, nutrient holding capacity, root growth and workability):
- Previous roots must be removed and burned as can harbour disease.
- Subsoiling. (breaking down previous soil if used for agriculture) Promote better drainage and make soil easier to cultivate.
- Large rocks and weeds may be removed as it can hinder roots penetration.
- Ploughing Manure, compost and fertilisers may be done to increase level of nutrients and organic matter of the soil.
- PH adjustment may be done by ploughing in in lime (calcium-based substance).

Question 4

Planting material

Answer 4

The choice of grape variety or clone can be made based on:
- Style of wine, yield, law, availability, market demand and cost
- time of budding: (CH early, RI late).
- time of ripening: early ripening best suits cool climate. (CH, PN early).
- tolerance to drought: to withstand water stress in dry conditions. (GR)
- resistance to disease: meaning some grapes requires less monitoring and treating (CS).
- Winter hardiness (RI)
- Vigour: if high needs managing to control shoots growth (SVB).

The choice of rootstock is based on:
- pests: must be tolerant to phylloxera and root-knot nematodes.
- water: dry or water-logged soil. tolerance to salinity in soil.
- Soil PH: Tolerance to acidic soils.
- Vigour: can moderate or enhance vigour. (Low vigour can advance ripening, beneficial in cool climate. High vigour can boost vine growth and yields)

Question 5

Vine age

Answer 5

5y old vines produce low yields because their root system is not fully established.
10y to 40y old vines produce its maximum yields and beyond that age, its vigour decrease.
Old vines of 50y and more are suitable for expensive wines. However, for making high yield of inexpensive wine, old vines will be replaced.
It is said that older vines produce higher quality fruit. It could be that the lower yield lead to more concentration.
The term “old vines” is not regulated.