Page 54 - Grapevine May-June 2020
P. 54
Around The Vineyard
processing. I have clients in California who hand
harvest at night in a very economical fashion,
and this process could be adopted in Australia.
A suggestion to get started, a beginners
Professional Certificates guide to identifying candidate vines
Delivered via Distance Education Decide how much icon wine you want, then cal-
Viticulture • Winemaking culate how many vines you might need to provide
fruit. Walk the vineyards at the beginning of verai-
“Program combines son, and mark vines (paint on trunk?) which show
the theoretical with the early colouring, and early lignification on the basal
practical aspects - real (bottom) part of the shoot. Typically these vines
world solutions. I can’t should not have active shoot tip growth. Hopefully,
recommend it strongly you may have enough vines to make your icon
enough for either a fu- wine, though the average yield might be a little
ture or current grower.”
less. A second inspection about two weeks later
should confirm your selection.
James Kasparek
Class of 2018
Conclusion
806‐834‐1627 Generally, these ideas are not new, but one
grapesandwine.ttu.edu does not often see them ranked as I have. I would
emphasize that each of these entries can be readily
quantified, and it would be easy to develop a pro-
tocol of measurement systems as a form of quality
be a cause of diminished fruit quality. Some assurance of events. Anyone interested in making
regions face changing varieties to ones more icon wine the smart way?
heat tolerant.
Dr. Richard Smart is an experienced Australian
8. Timely harvest decision: Again this is not an vineyard consultant residing in Melbourne, Victoria,
issue that it is found wanting in most commer- Australia. He specializes in internet consulting,
cial vineyards. For many varieties, I am skeptical using commercial software to interact with clients
about the claims by enologists that they can worldwide in their office and vineyards. Contact him
determine the optimal time for harvest by tast- at vinedoctor@smartvit.com.au for a quotation
ing grapes, or by determining seed colour in lim- and appointment.
ited berry samples.
9. Excessive yield: I find in many commercial vine-
yards that yield levels are generally not inap-
propriate nor excessive. Yet, the first command
that comes from the wine company is generally Editor’s Correction: In the article titled
one of yield reduction! In my opinion, in the “Climate Change and the Wine Industry.
pursuit of icon wine, the factors listed above are What of the Future”, by Dr. Richard
generally more important than vineyard yield,
when the vines are in balance. Smart (The Grapevine Magazine, March/
was mistak-
April 2020), the word CO 2
10.Harvest method: For many situations, it seems enly altered to read CO . We regret and
2
to me that harvest method is quite unimport-
ant. What seems more important is the tem- apologize for the error.
perature of the fruit and the time taken before
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