OCTOBER 2008

Although the Southern Highlands is a relatively new wine region, it has rapidly gained a reputation for producing excellent cool climate wines. However, one of the frustrations for visitors who are curious about wines from the Southern Highlands is that a number of the region’s best wine producers do not have Cellar Doors where you can try their wines.

This changed in September when we opened a Cellar Door at our winery on Kells Creek Road, just 6 minutes from Mittagong. In addition to tasting our range of award-winning wines, you can enjoy the best coffee in a Cellar Door in the Highlands, gourmet teas and Italian treats.

To make the trip up Kells Creek Road even more worthwhile, you can also ask for a tour of the winery and then go across the road to Bousaada’s Cellar Door for more wine tasting and their celebrated vigneron’s lunch, featuring outstanding local produce.

In the vineyard

After one of the coldest winters for many years, the vines are now coming out of hibernation with the first leaves breaking through the dormant buds. Good early Spring rain will ensure strong growth in the early part of the season. Budburst dates appear to be an “average” date and hopefully the frosts have gone for another year. The vineyard work never slows down with pruning, fertilising and maintenance taking place over the winter months.

Why do we prune?

Some vineyards do not prune, or minimally prune vines, so why do we? Cool climate vines usually need crop regulation, otherwise if the vine was left unchecked, the crop may not ripen adequately. Winter pruning is one way we can regulate what crop is produced 6 months later. I have performed pruning trials over the last few years to determine what pruning level will produce what yield. Some further crop regulation may be required in some years by thinning bunches in early December. Winter pruning will also regulate shoot growth. Excessive shoot growth will cause bunch shading and disease problems while too little foliage may cause a lack of ripening.

Type of Pruning

Pruning trials over the last few years have been conducted to examine yield, shoot growth and fruit quality. These pruning trials include whether to “spur” or “cane” prune the vine. A spur pruned vine is one that a cordon arm is retained on the fruiting wire and the vine is cut back to short “spurs” retained on this arm. This is the easiest type of pruning and is suited to most varieties. This type of pruning can be “pre-pruned” by a machine, making it easier to hand prune. A cane pruned vine is one that the old fruiting arm is removed, and a new fruiting cane is laid down every year. Cane pruning is very labour intensive and requires a greater amount of skill and experience. The pruning trials looked at a number of variables – shoot growth, canopy density, bunch weight, fruit analysis etc. After analysing this data, a pruning method can be recommended for each variety. The Cabernet, Merlot and Riesling are spur pruned while the Arneis, Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Lagrein are cane pruned. Such trials are continuous to ensure high quality fruit is maintained.

Spure-pruned vine	Cane-pruned vine

Fertiliser in the Vineyard

Fertiliser is a requirement of all vines. The soils of the Southern Highlands region are inherently acid (low pH), mainly due to the leaching effect of our high rainfall. These acids soils can be problematic if rectification is not performed. Low pH soils can cause nutrient deficiencies – although the nutrients are present in the soil, they are unavailable due to the low pH. Addition of lime or gypsum is used to raise the pH. The addition of these products works slowly on the soil and soil tests are carried out every two years to ensure they are working and that the correct rates are applied. Tissue tests, or petiole tests, are another test used to ensure the vine’s nutritional requirements are meet. These tests are carried out during flowering (mid-late November). The results will indicate the nutrient status in the vine, and recommend what is required.

Paul Quirico – Viticulturist