2008 harvest notes:
December 2008
Mid December bought on
challenges!
On The Stables Wine Estate
It was a month of mixed emotions for everyone on the farm.
At the beginning of the month things were looking superb. The three
hectares of young vineyard were healthy with most of the vines having
reached the wire and the arms having been developed on this wire. The
Roobernet and Shiraz were ready to deliver a more-than-decent crop in
2009.
The one hectare of Pinot Noir was responding well to the more favourable
weather. All the shoots had grown through the second set of canopy wires
and were almost ready to be tipped.
It must be said that at the beginning of the month we had a serious
scare when one section of the vineyard showed symptoms of Powdery Mildew
infection. A quick response and correct spraying put the situation under
control. This block was looking as though it would bear around three
tons a hectare, which is exceptional for its first crop. Bear in mind we
wouldn’t stress the vineyard with a big crop, in its first year.
The ridges under the vines had all been sprayed with herbicides and the
rows, which looked nothing short of stunning, were kept short with the
brush cutter.
Unfortunately, nature dealt a heavy blow on Thursday, December 11. At
about 16h00 the heavens opened, unleashing a storm such as I had never
seen before. With it came hail almost the size of a golf ball, as well
hurricane-like winds. This lasted 15 – 20 minutes. The young vineyards
stood no chance! Only when taking stock of the damage did the extent of
the devastation become clear.
The vines will no longer bear the anticipated crop this year and,
although it was a bitter pill to swallow, it was possibly good to have
learnt this difficult lesson now instead of in years to come when the
size of the vineyards would be more than 20 hectares. Farmers who have
been in the area more than 20 years confirmed they had never seen the
likes of such a hail storm and that it was a freak occurrence.
We recently finished planting another four hectares of Pinot Noir,
Pinotage and Sauvignon Blanc in Nottingham Road and, although the hail
did it no favours, it will not have a negative affect on them.
In Greytown
It has been a frantic couple of weeks in Greytown trying to get the
workload completed before the vineyard team takes a break over the
festive season. Thanks to the efforts of all concerned the work has been
done and our goals achieved.
Some of these targets included ensuring all the shoots had been tucked
into the canopy wires. All the tipping and topping has been completed.
This stimulates the vine to grow laterally, which puts more energy into
the grape bunches. All ridges have been sprayed with herbicide; a
somewhat tiring task considering we sprayed 20 hectares using knapsacks.
Unfortunately, not everyone will be going on leave - our tractor driver
will have to administer one last fungicide spray before Christmas.
I’m happy to report the vineyards are 100 % disease free and every
indication demonstrates they will remain that way up to harvest.
In farming, when things go wrong they really go wrong. As if the hail in
Nottingham Road was not enough, there was a hail storm on the Saturday
13 in Greytown! I’m relieved to report the damage was not serious. This
was due to the tall, dense canopy which protected the berries. There was
slight bruising but, considering the potential damage the storm might
have caused, we were relieved.
Despite this minor crop loss we are looking at bringing in more than 100
tons of grapes from Greytown.
Early december
Suckering is summer pruning - it takes place early in the season
when unwanted young shoots, not on the bearers, hamper sun penetration
and wind movement through the vine. The shoots that are removed are
usually non bearing or water shoots. The main purpose of suckering is to
remove all the unwanted shoots and then remove shoots that cause
unnecessary density.
It is ideal to go
through the vineyard and sucker twice, if time allows. The first sucker
can be done when shoots are 5cm to 10cm so that it is easy to see which
shoots need to be removed. The second sucker can follow three weeks
later. There will be shoots that have run out that were not there when
the first sucker was done. It is ideal to leave two shoots per bearer.
Suckering has the following benefits:
* spraying will be more effective
* improved sunlight penetration
* easier harvesting
* allows for better wind movement through the vine which is essential
after rain.
* creates an open canopy
We started and completed our first sucker during October, which took
three weeks.
Being in a summer-rainfall region means weeds are a nightmare. They will
out compete the vine which could result in the death of the plant. Weed
control is particularly important at The Stables Wine Estate, because
they have a greater effect on young vines. We, therefore, physically
remove the weeds from the ridges beneath the vines and keep the weeds
short between the rows.
November 2008
This is
the first of a regular update on what we are doing here at The Stables
Wine Estate – on the agricultural side, that is. I shall start with a
general overview and then give a more in depth look at the work being
done here on a monthly basis.
There are eight important activities which take place within the year.
These include:
1) Pruning (end July - mid September)
2) Vines bud (mid September)
3) Spraying (starts at 2cm - 5cm shoot length)
4) Suckering
5) Tucking in shoots
6) Tipping and topping
7) Harvesting
8) Weed control (this is done throughout the season)
It is important to understand that there are early, medium and late
grape cultivars.
Early cultivars will bud, flower and be harvested first.
The cultivars we have include:
|
Early |
Medium |
Late |
|
Chardonnay |
Merlot |
Cabernet Sauvignon |
|
Cabernet Franc |
Sauvignon Blanc |
Shiraz |
| Pinotage
|
|
| Pinot noir
|
To date we have completed pruning and spraying. We prune because fertile
shoots are the one-year-old shoots formed on two-year-old wood. Shoots
formed on wood that is older than two years will usually not bear
grapes.
When pruning, it is important to keep only the shoots that are on the
bearers and everything else must be cut away.
We started pruning on the July 29 and finished on September 21. We prune
as late as possible because of the very-real threat of frost we have
here.
The effect of frost:
* frost before budding has no effect because the vine is in dormancy
* frost after budding has the potential to kill all green shoots,
flowering bunches as
well as eyes that have not budded yet.
* in instances where severe frost does not occur, the leaves may just
form a red-brown
colour and will be able to recover.
* the effects of frost can be prevented by fires; frost fans; overhead
irrigation; late pruning
* frost also affects cultivars differently. Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay
and Pinot Noir are
very susceptible to frost damage.
Nottingham Road has a cooler climate than the Greytown vineyard and due
to this the budding at The Stables was two weeks later than the Greytown
vineyard.
We spray to take action against powdery mildew and downy mildew before
the vineyard gets infected. Spraying can start before budding with
dormancy-breaking products to help attain an even bud. Fungicide
spraying starts when the shoots have reached 2cm - 5cm. Thereafter the
entire vineyard is sprayed every seven to 12 days, depending on the
weather.
Spraying is performed with a tractor and mist blower in Greytown. At The
Stables Wine Estate we use knapsacks. We are currently working on the
second phase of suckering. I shall explain this process next time.
