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Newsletter No: 92 (February 2012)
Newsletter details:
1. Hunter Biodynamic Group Field Day, Saturday 10th December 2011. ....................... 1
2. TOCAL Field Days ( 4th to 6th May 2012) ........................................................ 3
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1. Hunter Biodynamic Group Field Day, Saturday 10th December 2011.
The Christmas Gathering for 2011 was held at Ross and Derice McDonalds vineyard at Pokolbin.
We had a very good attendance, the weather was just right, the vineyard was beautifully prepared,
the company was delightful and Ross and Derice put on an outstanding day, both relaxing and
informative.
Thank you both very much. Thank you as well to everybody who helped put
the day together and made it enjoyable for everybody.
After morning tea, Ross gave an overview of theirjourney into the vineyard game.
They started planting in ’93 at Branxton whilst they lived in Sydney. In ’98 sold in Sydney and moved to the Hunter. Ross was an engineer involved in an irrigation system taking water from Hunter River to vineyards etc. including Hunter Valley Gardens. Covering 600sq km. The irrigation system is user pays. The local bore water was too salty. Another system in Broke was also installed. In ’99 they moved to Sweetwater buying 100ac. Ross who was interested in soils found what he was looking for, a belted dome of red loam, on red clay on Shale on limestone on a ridge. Soils here vary a lot in Pokolbin. Lakes Foley has a red loam, on red clay, on limestone. In ‘01/‘02 Ross decided to go down the path of
BD to improve fertility. He exported the wine then later went for certification.
From ‘02?‘05 certification took nearly 4 years. Ross is proudly is the 1st BD certified vineyard in the hunter valley.
He has acquired an extra 12 acres from neighbours that he is looking after, and has an extra vineyard currently in conversion.
He has a total of 45 acres of vines certified. Ross and Derice have a total of 300 acres certified.
Ross estimates $25000/acre to setup a vineyard. 100 years for return at the moment.
Export in the 90’s was between 1 billion to 3 billion dollars. That figure has fallen back now.
PRUNING; Merlot, Ross likes 2 bunches/cane. He prunes for balance and bunches. He also likes the shape of a V in the trunk a hand span below the fruiting wire. The blending wine grape has a very upright growth. The Shiraz that Ross has is 10 years old, and he says it grows like a weed. He likes to prune it to 10 budsside. With BD the bunches are oval not closed up tight, which allows better airflow therefore less diseases.
Casuarina Cunningham needle spray is used for preventative measures not remedial.
Ross puts his brews out by hand, out of a bucket behind the tractor.
Legumes for nitrogen fixing he uses a mixture; Peas, beans are like 100 measure, Clover like 50 measure.
Ross finds that Paspalum is the hardest weed in the vineyard to control as it always seems to grow under the dripper and sucks up everything you\'re trying to put out.
He is producing 10 tonne/acre at the moment. This is his best crop in 10 years. Ross thinks he’s just got it right.
When observing the vines, if the tendrils are shooting past the growing tip the vine is still growing.
Grafting is like putting a big engine in a little car. Shiraz is harvested usually the 1st week in February,
Once the growth slows all the energy goes into the grapes.
1/3 of the vineyards in the upper hunter have been pulled out. Ross’s vineyard being BD is in a niche market so he can survive.
They have found it best to focus on the local market and it’s supporting them. They are still exporting a small amount.
The current Exchange rate and cost of labour hurts export.
We saw Ross’s Compost, mulch and his flow form.
Moving into natural winemaking, the right cover crops are very important, Plantain, clover, peas, oats
(deep roots improve water retention).
He also uses a plough that throws soil onto the bottom of stems, covering roots and helps cover grass and assists in the breakdown of the grass.
The vine leaves are important for photosynthesis which helps to ripen fruit. Christmas verasion is 7 or 8 Brix, then 13 Brix when we pick 2nd or 3rd week of February. The table grapes in the supermarket are about 8 Brix. 13 Brix makes 13% alcohol.
The Merlot is grown on its own roots. It has a lower vigour when not grafted. It’s more about the quality not the quantity.
A leaf on a vine only works for 30?40 days. Ross uses a lot of seaweed and fish, also fish with preps.
Fish through the drippers only, is too oily. Sea magic is used for seaweed and fish.
Grasses under the vines, Ross leaves them for biodiversity. The wire spacing that Ross uses is;
0.6m high Dripper wire.
1.1m high Fruiting wire.
1.5m high for cane support.
1 wire 1 side, 1 wire the other to transfer loads.
He uses 3metre rows, 1.6m apart.
HARVESTING;
Ross harvests by hand. Next the grapes go through the crusher de?stemmer, which splits and separates the grapes from the stems. Then onto the fermentation vessel (milk vat which holds 2 tonne of grapes)for between 10 days to 2 weeks. Where you have to keep pushing the crust down. The natural yeast is the biggest difference between different areas (indigenous yeast, wild yeast).
He puts a sieve into the vat to pump out liquid. The left over skins etc from the vat are put into a
Basket press and pressed to 100 bar to squash out the last of the wine from the skins. (For reds) Marquee (leftovers goes into the compost) The wine then goes into Oak barrels.
Then you check the Ph of the wine. (Tartaric acid is used to change the Ph)
Then leave the wine in barrels for over a year. RACKING; Suck out wine from barrels and leave a little in the bottom.
You lose 1% per month to evaporation.
Fining; Attracts soluble impurities and settles them to the bottom. Add:
Egg white for Reds,
Fish for problems,
Milk cosine for Whites,
Test – standard
? 0.1 of egg
? 0.2 of egg
? 0.4 of egg
The purity of BD grapes at harvest doesn’t need fining.
Hunter bolting, bottles the wine. Add 10 ppm of sulphur just before bottling.
Wild yeast is sensitive to sulphur. Australian standard is 250ppm
Organic Standard is 125ppm Cost for harvesting is $300?400/tonne handpicked,
$100/tonne machine picked.
Machine harvesting picks the berry not the bunch, it splits the fruit when it’s ripe so you have
to add sulphur at harvest so it doesn’t oxidise.
Ross makes the wine without sulphur and hand picks.
To pick by hand you squeeze the knee joint and they come away easily.
Machine picking is done at night because it’s cooler.
Vineyards often use Roses for indication for fungus. Black spot on roses but not on the grapes but other fungus’s attack grapes. So this is an indicator to check grapes.
Casuarina’s growing near the flow form are growing really strongly, others planted at the same time growing elsewhere are not as strong, they are used for 508 and windbreaks. Ross also has 6 Devon cows on 300 acres. Seaweed and fish is put out every 3 weeks around Christmas time.
Ross uses a Furtigation system. Having the ground a bit damp first helps with furtigation spreading.
Whole fish is added straight into the compost. Chicken manure is left for 6 months before using it.
Carry all on the back of the tractor with 44 gal drums is used for bucketing out brews etc.
2. TOCAL Field Days ( 4th to 6th May 2012)
This is an extremely important forum for theGroup to tell others about the extraordinary
benefits of Bio-dynamic methods.
In the past our biodynamic display has beenvery well received, but we can’t do it again
without your support. If you are able to help read the attached flyer, where you can see the
list of tasks (some are small, some are bigger).
If you can come, then please be sure to complete the Volunteer Activity Sheet so we
can organise everyone properly, even with little bits of time.