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It is well known that mechanical weeding is just as effective as herbicide when it comes to vine health and increasing yield. A three-year integrated weed management trial, IWMPRAISE, which was carried out on Chardonnay at NIAB EMR’s Kent-based research vineyard, effectively proved that all the mechanical weeding methods which were trialled positively impacted the health of the vine as well as the yield. Data also showed an insignificantly small difference between the mechanical and chemical treatments in vine vigour, nutritional status, inflorescence counts, and yield. Looking at weed abundan ..read more

The increased pressure to improve fruit quality, reduce losses due to disease and deal with the shortage and expense of labour has led to the increased use of machinery to strip leaves in the grape zone. The Alsatian company Provitis offer two types of stripper, the suction roller type LR 350 but also the pneumatic type LB 260. The latter uses rotating jets of air at 0.6 to 1.0 bar to shred the leaves. A blower generates the air pressure passing it to the rotating nozzles which strip the leaves. The working height in the grape zone can be adjusted from 400mm to 640mm by tilting the heads. With ..read more

In light of the large yields and abundant crop produced in 2023, and with the tirage and bottling season upon us, a frequent concern raised by wine producers, particularly traditional method sparkling winemakers, is the continual and growing need for suitable storage. Years such as 2018 and 2023 are great news for our thriving industry, with great PR and coverage in the press, and plenty of ripe grapes with which to make fantastic wine both still and sparkling. Whilst the ideal is to sell all of a vintage release within the year it is launched, the reality is more often than not an overlap bet ..read more

Grape powdery mildew disease, caused by the fungal pathogen Erysiphe necator is a destructive disease which threatens vineyards worldwide and infection levels as low as 3% can taint the wine and give off-flavours. Vigilance as the canopy develops and frequent crop-walking of every part of the vineyard are essential. It is a disease that can easily catch you out as it sneaks along slowly and steadily inside the canopy until it suddenly appears when a spell of conducive mild cloudy weather comes along. In dry conditions it often remains unnoticed in shaded parts of the canopy. Optimum temperatur ..read more

The nutritional needs of vines change as they enter different stages of growth during the season; a peak level of calcium is used just after bud burst, for example, while the uptake of potassium and nitrogen is at its highest after flowering as the fruit sets. Building the foundations for a strong and sustainable vineyard can be the work of many years, developing the soil’s capacity to capture, retain and, when required, release vital macronutrients and micronutrients for the development of healthy commercial crops which produce quality wine. Monitoring nutrients through tissue analysis of the ..read more

Vivai invited Vineyard Magazine to visit their headquarters to experience first-hand the process of grafting and the continuing research at this nursery and centre of viticultural science. Situated about an hour from the beautiful city of Venice this small area of countryside is just as internationally significant within the viticultural community as its more famous neighbour is for its canals, architecture and colourful glass production. Every year in excess of 80 million vines are produced by the Vivai Cooperativi Rauscedo (VCR) and shipped to countries worldwide. It is quite astounding to r ..read more

It was Monday 23 June 1975, and I was being introduced to the people who would be my workmates for the next twelve months. No doubt the chef (the boss) had told them that they had a new praktikant starting that morning and I feel sure they would have asked ‘What nationality? South African, Italian, USA, Dutch?’ – they had seen a fair few over the years. I am sure when he said ‘English’ there was a general groan along the lines of ‘what do they know about vineyards?’ and of course they were quite right – I knew practically next to nothing. We soon piled into an old green van which took us to an ..read more

Minerality is a relatively new term which has become widely used by wine professionals and consumers over the last quarter century, especially for high-quality cool-region still white wines. It is poorly defined in sensory terms, however, and its origin is difficult to pin down. Many producers claim it arises from the vineyard’s geology and soils, but this idea has largely been discredited by Alex Maltman, a geologist at Aberystwyth University, and several other researchers. Taking Chablis Premier Cru as an example of a Chardonnay wine well-known for its mineral flavours, Alex Biss and Richard ..read more

John, how did you get started in agronomy? After leaving agricultural college, I was a farm manager for 20 years working with livestock and arable, and then worked for an American specialist nutritional company in the UK. So, I have always been involved in agronomy. How did you get involved with vineyards? I was asked to look at a sick vine whilst exhibiting at the Royal Show, which ended up with me visiting the vineyard in question. It all started from there, which was 23 years ago and many vineyards since. Why not enjoy a well earned retirement? Why should I retire when growers are finally p ..read more