Post on 15-May-2015
description
Winegrowing @ Vilafonté
November 22, 2011@ Vilafonté
Phil Freese & Edward Pietersen
Today: “Today: “Beginning With The End Beginning With The End In MindIn Mind””
• Defining ‘target’ wine characteristics and attributes– “Absolute” vs. “Relative”
• Know the site: Soils, Climate, Plant materials• Know the ‘tools’ available to drive the outcome for
the wines• Design vineyard and wine growing to meet the
wine objectives using the best ‘tools’• Seasonal wine growing = “The Game Plan”
– Management is sensitive to • “The Game Plan” & overall wine objectives above• The season The “Plan” becomes Reality of season
Training is VSP Vine spacing (1.2 x 1.6 m) = (4.0 x 5.25 feet) 5,200 vines/ha = 2,112 vines/acre
Vilafonté Vineyard:Vilafonté Vineyard:
Variety Ha Clone(s) Rootstock Plant - Year
CF 0.68 623 & 214 101-14 1999
CS 6.08 163, 37, 341 101-14 1998 & 1999
ME 4.86 343 & 348 101-14 1998, 1999, 2007
MA 2.83 46, 71, 1 101-14 & R99 1998, 2006
14.45
Technology @ Vilafonté: “Appropriate Technology @ Vilafonté: “Appropriate for the time”for the time”
500 Million years ago
Current way to assess soil variability – pre-plant
Key Wine Growing Issues for VilafonteKey Wine Growing Issues for Vilafonte
Soils“Old” soils – highly weathered
Sub-surface drainage installed prior to plantingrow orientation to facilitate drainage
“Vilafontes” is one of the soil types Vilafonté
Managing for wine characters and Managing for wine characters and style:style:Training and pruning to set shoot number and
position – fruit display
Water management – time & amount-stress – Build ‘sufficient’ canopy
Leaf Water Potential (LWP) pressure bombDrainage
Crop control & Managing for uniformity of fruit ripening
Low yields per vine and good yields per hectare 7 tons/Ha = 1.4 Kg/vine (3.1 pounds per vine) Intensity of character Severe thinning fruit to ‘capacity’ of the shoots Severe veraison thinning – achieve uniformly ripe fruit
Key Wine Growing Issues for VilafonteKey Wine Growing Issues for Vilafonte
Climate“Mediterranean”
Winter rainfall area - about 25 - 30 inches (April – September)
Low frost potential in the spring“Mild” summers
Warm days and nightsHigher relative humidity vs. California – less vine stress
extremesSomewhat more regular ripening weather
(more shallow diurnal temperature changes) Long post-harvest time for vine-ripeness
Regular phenology Approximately 105 – 110 days, bloom to harvest
G. Jones (2006)
Grape Vine Phenology Dates And Data: Grape Vine Phenology Dates And Data: Some Practical Uses Within The Growing season:Some Practical Uses Within The Growing season:• Phenology is your ‘timeline’ for the growing season
– Budburst to flowering is a ‘squishy’ number (heat limiting in spring)
– Other stages are very reproducible (heat saturated – in most “New World” areas)
• Timing between events is very regular season-to-seasonfor a given site, variety and vineyard block
• Timing within an event is a measure of variability– Number of elapsed days from 5% to 95%
• Net – you can project timing of vine events from your phenology data:– Flowering dates and fungicide sprays– Cutoff date for last sulfur application to avoid residue on fruit– Water management – choose a stress level (severity) and (time)
to hit this level– When you need to do veraison thinning– Harvest timing– French plan their summer vacations!
Vineyard Operations:Vineyard Operations: The Vineyard Team The Vineyard Team
Vineyard Operations:Vineyard Operations:
Pruning
Vineyard Operations:Vineyard Operations:
PruningSuckeringCanopy
Side shootsWire shifting & Shoot positioning
Dealing With The Natural Dealing With The Natural Variability Of VineyardsVariability Of Vineyards
• Weak shoots
• Veraison thinning
• Selective harvest of sub-areas to achieve uniform lots
• Berry sorting at the winery after de-stemming
Vineyard Operations:Vineyard Operations:
PruningSuckeringCanopy
Side shootsWire lifting & Shoot positioning
Water management
Vineyard Operations:Vineyard Operations:
PruningSuckeringCanopy
Side shootsWire lifting & Shoot positioning
Water managementVeraison thinning
Vineyard Operations:Vineyard Operations:
PruningSuckeringCanopy
Side shootsWire lifting & Shoot positioning
Water managementVeraison thinningHarvest
The Vine: Uneven Fruit RipeningThe Vine: Uneven Fruit Ripening• Non-uniform ripening of fruit is probably a large positive
benefit for better evolutionary competition
– More chances to have animals feed on some of the berries as they come ripe:
• Better chance of ripening in the migration time of birds
– Better chance of surviving different climate conditions
• Non-uniform ripening is not positive for winemaking
objectives!
– Lack of ‘focus’ of aroma and flavor – mixed berry characters
• Variations within:
– Vineyard – area to area
– Vine – bunch to bunch
– Cluster – berry to berry
Normalized Difference Vegetation Index Normalized Difference Vegetation Index = NDVI = NDVI (Spatial Variation of Vegetative Index)(Spatial Variation of Vegetative Index)