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Thoughtful Viticulture, Taradale (2026)

27/02/2024

Clone 1066 Chardonnay. More Mendoza than Mendoza. This is just about the most crop I've seen on it. Just as hard to grow and keep clean as any other Chardonnay clone, but a fraction of the yield.

The quality is amazing, but I question the financial wisdom of planting this clone in any large quantity, though I look forward to trying the wine from someone who does

The bunches are adorable though.

22/02/2024

Marlborough is DRY and river flows across the region are low. It's no surprise irrigation cut offs/restrictions are in effect for some users, and right around the corner for others.

Concerned about your vineyard? We can help.

By measuring vine water status and/or stomatal activity, we can help you allocate water wisely and form the best irrigation strategy to get your blocks across the harvest line.

07/02/2024

I’m back in the Pinot block I posted about a few weeks back. As you can see the “chickens” are already starting to shrivel on these bunches, even though some of the “hens” have yet to change colour.

This complicates maturity sampling and results in an unknowable “soak up” of Brix after crushing. Despite these challenges, I’m very optimistic about Pinot quality from Marlborough this season.

Long may this hot dry weather last.

01/02/2024

Here are some shots of two different areas of the same Sauvignon blanc block. The first two are of vines from a very stony patch in the block. It has little topsoil, so there’s limited nutrient availability and water holding capacity. Nutritional and water limitations for those few vines have resulted in smaller canopy growth and an earlier than normal start of cane lignification. The third and fourth photos are of vines that are representative of the other 99% of the block.
Vines have much more lateral growth, much less fruit exposure, and no cane lignification yet.

This grower has done the right thing and irrigated to the needs of the majority of vines, rather than trying to keep this tiny weak area vigorous by pouring on the water early and often. As a result, they’ve limited excessive vegetative growth and encouraged a better microclimate for their crop. Sometimes a few stressed vines is a fair compromise for better resource management and vineyard management.

22/01/2024

This Sauvignon blanc vine is displaying symptoms of trunk disease in the canes from the left side of the vine. Internally there will xylem vessels colonised with fungal hyphae, predominantly on the xylem feeding the left side. Xylem vessels do have small pores/pits that connect them to neighbouring vessels, allowing for lateral transfer of water and minerals, but this pathway has significantly more resistance to flow, dramatically slowing transport.

The visual symptoms of the left side of the vine mimic those of nutrient/water stress because, similar to those issues, the occluded xylem prevents delivery to the shoots at the rate healthy growth would require.

If we were to do a cross section through the trunk, we’d see dark staining predominantly in the left side. We might see almost entirely dark stained xylem except for a wedge of healthy wood on the right. It’s amazing how much canopy can be supported by only a fraction of the xylem being fully functional as long as the vine is well watered. Under any sort of water stress this vine could completely collapse.

Depending how far the fungal front has grown, there is still a chance to save this vine by retrunking. In my experience, however, once obvious symptoms like these are evident, the vine is likely toast.

This highlights the importance of protecting pruning wounds, especially in a cool climate with a very susceptible variety like Sauvignon blanc.

17/01/2024

“Hen and chickens” is the adorably named symptom seen in these bunches. The small berries (“chickens “) are seedless, whereas the larger berries have seeds. It can arise from several causes, but the most common is poor weather at flowering, which we definitely had for the early varieties, like this Pinot, this year.

In Mendoza clone Chardonnay the propensity for hen and chickens is celebrated because folks say it concentrates the flavour. The problem for red wines is that, due to their size and large surface area to volume ratio they tend to dehydrate leading up to harvest, making it difficult to accurately assess the sugar level you’re going to get in tank after the the Brix “soaks up” after crushing.

To complicate the issue, the “chickens” often start ripening before the larger berries as you can see in these photos. This means they reach their maximum sugar and weight earlier, and move into the dehydration phase, while the larger berries are still accumulating sugar and aren’t ready to pick yet. On the plus side, the increases in skin mass usually means excellent colour in the resulting wines.

08/01/2024

I was in a Pinot block measuring yesterday and saw this. The managers have irrigated really well this season, bringing the vines to moderate stress before giving the vines a big drink. As you can see, there are some senescing leaves on the vines. However if you look closely, the only leaves yellowing off are those damaged by the compressed air leaf plucker that ran through after set a few weeks ago.
Don't freak out prematurely and start pouring on the water. Understanding why these leaves are turning is the key. These vines are not so stressed that they are losing healthy basal leaves, they’re just sacrificing leaves that are too damaged, and are costing more to retain than they are yielding in photosynthate. This is an indication the vines are properly watered, not overly stressed. After all, the leaf plucker was run through the vineyard specifically to take theses leaves off. Watering to keep them is counter intuitive and counter productive in terms of wine quality.
Not all yellowing leaves are the same. Relax, have a close look, and don’t jump to conclusions.
I think the wines from this block are going to be spectacular this year. Here’s to more sunny, dry days.

01/01/2024

Many vineyards in New Zealand , and around the world, are planted on alluvial soils. These soils are sometimes extremely variable in vigour potential, even across short distances. The ridges are very stony, with little soil, and the hollows have much more silt on top of the stones.
Here is a Pinot noir vineyard planted in such a soil. The first photo is looking down the row. You can see the abrupt change in midrow growth and vine size as you go up the rise. The second photo is a small vine in the stony soils at the top of the rise. The third photo is a vine at the base, in much siltier soil. These vines are about five meters apart, at the most.
This poses challenges for managers because of the very different crop load, ripening rate, and water/nutrient demand in the different soils. To make matters worse, most rivers along which we plant in NZ run east/west, but our rows are set out north/south, so the variability runs perpendicular to rows, leading to what you see here.
This vineyard has not irrigated yet, and the vines in the bonier soils clearly show signs of water stress, however the vines in the heavier soil are miles away from needing water yet. I know because I measured them with the pressure chamber.
Sometimes, maybe even always, viticulture involves making the “least bad” compromise. No vineyard is 100% uniform, and unfortunately few vineyards have the recourses, labour, and infrastructure to cater to each vine individually.
I believe in micro managing different areas of vineyards to bring them as close as possible to uniformity, but there is always variation to deal with. Vineyard managers don’t get enough credit for the challenges they confront. Hats off to all the unsung heroes toiling away amongst the vines!

Happy new year!

22/12/2023

Was in a vineyard that had a Sauvignon blanc block next to a Pinot noir block. The have very different growth habits, as you can see here. First photo has SB on the left and Pinot on the right. Second photo SB. Third Pinot.
Sauvignon grows very upright, with stiff shoots. Pinot is much floppier. These differences might seem trivial, but they make a huge difference for a manager. SB is very amenable to VSP trellis because it is so upright. It only needs the wires lifted as the canopy grows. Pinot is much more of a challenge, and wire lifting must be much more precisely timed to catch the floppy shoots before they can be damaged by the wind.
However, if you’re vertically dividing the canopy like in a Scott Henry, the floppy Pinot shoots are easier to train down than the more upright SB shoots.
The wines from these grapes have very different personalities. It comes as no surprise that the vines do too

21/12/2023

I was interviewed for Mongabay about our h**p trial for a story in their agroecology section. An interesting piece with some good input from other experts. Link in bio.

The h**p cover crop work continues looking at clover/h**p biculture, buckwheat/phaecelia biculture, and all four together. We’re using an oil h**p cultivar that shouldn’t grow as tall.

Watch this space for updates.

18/12/2023

Though the weather wasn’t ideal during flowering, with alternating hot/cold and not a ton of sun, set in Pinot noir looks pretty good in Marlborough.
Fingers crossed for a stretch of dry weather so we can ratchet potential berry size down with some targeted water stress at this developmental stage. Smaller berries will increase airflow and sun exposure on the fruit, improving wine quality. If we can get it right, it’ll reduce or eliminate the need to crop thin to hit target yield. More open bunches will also aid spray pe*******on so the fruit stays healthy and can hang until the flavours are just right.

16/12/2023

Check out my “point of view” piece in the newest New Zealand Winegrower magazine on irrigation monitoring and scheduling methodologies. It’s a brief piece, but I think it gives a pretty good run down of the options available to growers and the strengths and weaknesses of each. Link in bio.

Thoughtful Viticulture

27/02/2024

22/02/2024

07/02/2024

01/02/2024

22/01/2024

17/01/2024

08/01/2024

01/01/2024

22/12/2023

21/12/2023

18/12/2023

16/12/2023

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