This post is written in Santa Fe, New
Mexico, where I am to present our wines to our importer in the USA. They have
been very well received in San Diego, despite a huge offer of wines from all
over the world in the market here. The people are really friendly and the
weather has been great, which is a welcome change from the chilean winter!
It has been raining quite a lot in Chile
this year, which is always a good thing, except if you have to work under it. We
have had some night frosts and the vines have lost all their leaves now, so
we’re preparing winter pruning. Since we like doing experiments very much, this
year will see some new things in the vineyard. First of all, we’ll be making are
own dressing for pruning wounds. The University of California –Chilean
universities are very silent on the subject- recommends other ingredients than
are available in ready-made dressings, which made us decide to make our own.
This also allows us to control the stickiness and adhesion of the dressing, so
we can obtain just the kind of product we like to work with. We could even
change the color if we’d like to!
Since most of our vines stem from a
selection of cuttings from old vineyards rather than certified, clonal plant
material, some of the plants have diseases, and it is important to avoid them
spreading, hence the importance of pruning wound dressings. To try to rescue the
diseased plants we’ll cut the bad parts off (normally almost the entire plant)
and split the remaining trunk in half. This might help to dry out any fungi,
whereas the plant itself will sprout again from lower down the base. This
technique was described by the Roman writer Columella in the 2nd
century, but was largely forgotten since only grafted plants are used in most
wine producing countries. If you’d split a grafted plant, you’d probably end up
separating the graft from the rootstock, which would leave you with only the
rootstock, which doesn’t produce grapes. Fortunately, our vines are all
own-rooted, so we can still use the old books and see what they have to teach
us.
Another solution would be to take out the
diseased or dead plants and burying a shoot of the adjacent, healthy plant in
its place. The buried shoot will set root and bear fruit after two years: a
technique known as layering. The new plant can benefit from the roots of the
mother plant for a few years, before it’s cut off. If you’d plant a new one in place
of a missing one, the existing plants would simply not allow it to grow, as
their roots have colonized most of the soil and their canopies cast shade over
the new plant.
This year we’re also applying lime sulfur
to the vineyard. This winter spray is obtained by boiling lime and sulfur
together to obtain a reddish, foul smelling liquid. Since only lime and sulfur
are used in its manufacturing it’s allowed in organic and even biodynamic
agriculture and is probably one of the oldest home remedies still in use.
Applying this product will disinfect the vineyard during the winter, allowing
it a clean start in spring, with much less residues of insect eggs, larvae and
fungi.
Cellar-wise, we were still busy emptying
the last tanks before I left, filling barrels with this year’s wine. One of the
“toys” I’m bringing home is a “racking wand,” which caused much laughter in
California, despite the fact that it was invented just there. “Racking” means
taking the clean wine out of a barrel and placing it into a new one. Ideally
this is done by gravity, by siphoning the wine from one barrel to another one
below it. However, if the barrel you want to empty is the lowest one, you’re
forced to use a pump. A pump will inevistably beat and oxygentae the wine,
which I not so good. A racking wand puts pressure on the barrel, gently pushing
the wine out through a stainless steel cane. While flowing out, a sightglass
allows you verify that the lees or sediments stay behind, so they can be washed
out when the barrel is cleaned. A clever little invention, that we’ll put to
good use.
Just before I left, our moveable tank
heater went up in flames. A bolt hadn’t been tightened well enough, and the
leaking gas caught fire! Fortunately nobody was injured, but it is a good
reminder that safety elements and procedures cannot be neglected, and I’ll see
about that when I return. Even in the vineyard, pruning shears, tractors and
the likes can cause serious injury, which can be easily avoided when a little
care is taken.
The building where the barrels are kept
needs some re-engineering as well. The roof leaks in a few places and the
cement floor is in a very bad state. So when it rains, instead of having to
walk around in the mud, my staff can start working on removing the floor and
putting a new one in place. Most
of the men are very practical when it comes to using their DIY skills, and we’d
rather do it ourselves than having to argue with a builder. Not that I have
anything against builders, of course, but everywhere I’ve been, I have seen
difficulties to communicate precisely what you expect from one another and what
the result will look like. I guess most of you will get the idea…
The harvest hadn’t finished yet when we got
the funds to rip out part of the vineyard and replant it. I might have reported
on the Syrah decline earlier: aftyer 10-15 years the plants start to grow less,
the bark comes off in flakes and eventually they die. Since our Syrah plots are
some of the oldest in Chile, they’ve started to show the symptoms and have
become less productive, so it’s time to start replanting them. We took the
opportunity to replant some Malbec, which is a variety we hadn’t tried yet, but
promises good results in Chile. It could add extra complexity to our Aluvión
red blend in the future, or maybe be used in another blend or even varietal.
One hectare to start with seems like a good start. Next year I’d like to try
some Tannat too, if I can get some of it. Blends are a great way to showcase
the properties of soil, climate and winemaking skills of a certain area and
winery, and the more varieties you have to work with, the better.
So all in all it has been a busy month.
Once the pruning is well under way I’ll be able to go on the next trip, which
will take me to Holland, Norway and Sweden. I’m looking forward to that too,
but first there is some work to be done!