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 Great wine is primarily a product of the skill of the viticulturist. Time and experience endow the viticulturalist with an instinctive intuition to understand the climatic patterns of a district. The viticulturalist must be able to ‘sense’ these patterns in advance of them happening and to formulate management regimes on an informed scientific basis as well as on gut feel. Perhaps most importantly, the viticulturalist must know when to leave nature to her own devices. |
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| Purists may argue
that the only true reflection of a vintage is one that results in
entirely ‘natural’ wines being produced – that is, wines that are
entirely dependent upon the graces of mother nature. That notion is
correct, except that in the case of irrigation, its scientific
application is necessary in order to maximise the stress of a plant and
in many cases to keep it alive. There is a simplistic view that water
alone is the sole determinant of wine quality. The simple response is
that this is incorrect. In reality, a large number of factors come into
play in influencing wine quality. These factors are generally
collectively referred to as ‘terroir’: The interaction of climate,
soil, site and sunlight. There is much made of dry land (non-irrigated) farming and the virtue of the resultant wines. Protagonists of non-irrigated vineyards do their best to attach a stigma of inferiority to irrigated wines. However, such opinions are unwarranted and are founded upon a half-informed understanding of the science of viticulture. Firstly, it is possible to find a perfect site where there is sufficient winter rain to create the reserves necessary for the vines needs over the growing period. Such sites in Australia are rare and becoming even rarer as the climatic changes caused by green house and El Niño make the certainty of rainfall occurring when it is required more and more of a chance. Suffice to say that in viticulture, anticipating rainfall is a gamble. The timing and quantity of rainfall greatly influences a plant’s growing cycle. The viticulturist has a choice, he can work with nature and supplement the vine’s needs or he can simply choose to ignore nature – a laissez faire attitude. Would you leave your precious rose collection unwatered in the hope that rains will come just in time to revive the plant? Would you not want to provide the rose with the best possible environment for it to produce its superb perfume? Left on its own, there is a good chance the plant would die, let alone bestow its caretaker with the rewards he or she is seeking. If the season is against the viticulturists, that is, if the stress relieving rains do not occur, then remedial action must be taken. A vine needs to avoid stress during the two key times, flowering and variason. In both cases, the vine is balancing its position of producing fruit as opposed to producing leaves. If the vine becomes stressed, then growth stops, as the signals are sent back to the vine that there is a chance it will run short of water and consequently will not survive. Without any sort of measuring techniques, one can easily detect water stress by the amount of wilting that is evident at the growing tips of the vine. The management of vine stress is a viticultural skill, controlling stress by turning it into tension, thus avoiding the extreme vine condition. If a vine falls out of balance, it will remain out of balance for the duration of its growing period. |
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..................................................................................................................................................... There are thousands of grape growers, but only a handful of viticulturists who really understand the difference between growing grapes and growing GREAT grapes. Ian Rathjen (of Whistling Eagle Vineyard, Heathcote) is Tatiarra’s supervising viticulturist and has a profound understanding of how to produce exceptional grapes in the Heathcote district. The vineyard management regime is all-important and the science of grape growing is now so advanced that a vine’s behaviour can be largely predicted. To be able to predict what the weather is going to do, means that management regimes can be co-ordinated with climatic influences. That task sounds a lot easier than it might suggest. In reality, the special skill that is developed by viticulturists only comes about after an extended period of working with the vines from any one district.  Flavour is the reason people drink wine and flavour can be best defined as the summation of smell and taste. There are many factors that will impact detrimentally on the development of a wine's flavour profile. The two most obvious culprits are over cropping and excess water. In both cases, the resultant wines are thin and lack depth and concentration. However, contrary to popular belief, the flavour profiles do not develop during the variason period (that is the time that the grapes change colour from green to red/purple/mauve). The flavour compounds are actually formed whilst the grapes are green, and the berries quite hard. It is therefore of paramount importance to expose the bunches to sunlight, whilst at the same time not permitting the grapes to become sun burnt. The technique most widely used to achieve this outcome is a form of trellising called V.S.P. (Vertical Shoot Positioning). At the Tatiarra Heathcote Vineyard, three movable growing wires are used and as the leaf canopy grows, the new shoots are tucked away under the wire to create a vertical hedge like effect.  The yields at Tatiarra are kept well below the ‘magic’ three tonnes per acre limit that seems vital if super premium grapes are to be grown. The Tatiarra business model has an average yield forecast of 2.65 tonnes per acre, however, to date this figure has not been reached. A combination of the dry growing conditions and cane pruning has resulted in the 2002 vintage being cropped at 1.6 tonnes per acre, whilst the 2003 vintage was cropped at 2.3 tonnes per acre. This has resulted in two exceptionally concentrated vintages. |
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| Heathcote
has experienced a succession of drought years. Yields are low but the quality has been extraordinary. Vintage chart courtesy of Vintage Direct. |
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Entire
contents © Copyright 2010 Domaines Tatiarra / Tatiarra Vineyard, Gibb
Road, Toolleen, (Heathcote), Victoria, 3559. ABN 98 090 457 819
Liquor License No. 36077241 Telephone: 0428 628 420 Email: sales@cambrianshiraz.com WARNING: Under the Liquor Control Reform Act 1998 it is an offence: To supply alcohol to a person under the age of 18 years (Penalty exceeds $6,000) For a person under the age of 18 years to purchase or receive liquor (Penalty exceeds $500) |
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