Thursday, 31 January, 2013
Durbanville Hills
What
a pity we don't have "harvest reports" from those early years - it
would have been fascinating to discover which cultivars they planted and
what successes and failures they encountered.
he last 15 years, however, are very well
documented in our harvest and cellar reports (and if all else fails, I
can always fall back on past issues of this newsletter!) This is because
our previous January newsletters reference that year's vintage preseason, a time so crucial in determining the size and quality of the grapes.
This is the time when flavour, colour, berry size and all other quality
factors are determined. It's also when farmers are frantically
manipulating canopies to alter micro-climates in the vines, maintaining
optimal temperatures, removing excess bunches and curtailing overly
vigorous growth.
Rainmakers
When we started Durbanville Hills we had no
vineyards under irrigation and were totally dependent on Mother Nature.
It was crucial to have a good downpour in late December or early January
to see the vines through the ripening period. This dependence exposed
us to too much risk so we introduced black dripper lines to drench our vines in "controlled rain".
With all the volatile weather these days, I'm immensely grateful for
the reliable irrigation, though we would have been fine thanks to a very
wet winter and a favourable preseason this year.
We exercise very firm control over the amount of "rain" provided to the
vineyards during ripening as its necessary for them to be subjected to a
certain amount of stress to ensure good colour and flavour.
These days we measure water stress in the leaves to determine the
physiological state of the vine - a much more reliable indicator than
determining the amount of water available in the soil.