Spring update and biodiversity in the vineyard

Our work in the vineyard is in standby mode. Winter pruning is long done, as is the other winter task of tying up the pruned cordons on the trellis wires as needed.  Although bud break this year was early in March, the cool, wet spring has slowed down the growth of this year’s fresh emerging shoots, which still have a lot of growing to catch up on before they embark upon the next stage – flowering and pollination, which usually starts in early May.

115mm of rain fell within a single hour on April 21st, causing local flooding which even cut our access to the outside world for a short time, but we were mercifully spared the hail, which we hear wrecked some neighboring vineyards. This brings our total winter rainfall to a mindboggling 1630mm, or 4 times average!!

Only when flowering is over in early June, and when the canes are supple enough to support bending, will the workers return to the vineyards to position the canes, pulling them up or down under the trellis wires to train them in either direction, to open up the canopy, and expose the bunches to the morning sun.

Now, everywhere you look in the vineyard you see green –  the top layer of bright green of the new shoots is underscored by the more faded green of the oat crop sown between the vine rows to enhance biodiversity in the vineyard. This inter-row cover crop has so many benefits – enhancing the health of the vineyard soil and adding valuable organic matter; suppressing weeds naturally without herbicides; and forcing the grapevine to compete with it for water and nutrients, to reduce vine vigor. By summertime, the cover crop of oats will be flattened with a roller to create a mulch layer, which protects the vine roots from excessive heat, greatly reducing evaporation and conserving soil moisture.