Vines are unique in many respects to the horticultural and agricultural world, where the object is not to farm grapes on a quantity level, but to cautiously and very carefully produce fruit that is balanced, tethered equally by concentration, sugar ripeness, physiological ripeness and a myriad of other valued qualities. After an exploration of Central Otago Pinot from the winemakers’ viewpoint several months ago, it was time to now delve into Central Otago Pinot from the vineyard perspective. I spoke with local growers from a range of companies and sub-regions to shed light on how they tackle pinot in the vineyard.
Central Otago, as a climate, can be quite extreme. Granted we don’t have the floods, earthquakes and fires that other Pinot-growing regions have had to overcome, but savage winds, high UV, unpredictable frosts, arctic blasts of snow, drought, spiking heat, hail and torrential downpours (that can slough away entire horizons of soil) are all part of this region’s seasonal viticulture. James Dicey, of Grape Vision (and Central Otago Winegrowers Association President), believes that the interpretation and reaction to these events is one of the most important strategies for achieving balance in Pinot Noir.
“Pinot Noir is particularly responsive to its environment. We are gradually learning in Central Otago that it’s not the average of climatic factors in a particular season that’s important, but how these arrive and how they affect particular Pinot clones on particular sites. All this makes achieving the ‘holy grail’ of growing Pinot Noir extremely difficult – the concept of balance. Particularly, the balance between yield and canopy in a given year to achieve a desired quality outcome.
“A crystal ball would be extremely useful – without it we rely on knowledge of the supposed phenological reaction of the vine, observation and experience to suggest a myriad of potential pathways forward to achieve balance.”
Duncan Billing, of Valli, echoes this sentiment. “As far south as Central Otago is, nature can be a stern taskmaster,” he says. “The greatest challenge is trying to walk the line of balance within any given vintage. Experience and time as we learn to farm our vineyards gives any vineyard manager worth his or her salt the ability to be prescriptive or adaptive, whilst having the humility to not pre- empt what mother nature will do next.”
I like Yoshi Sato’s quote, as taken from the Winefront website during an interview with Mike Bennie, where he says “We can make obvious, fruity wines, but (we) have to take care to make wines of precision: (It’s) not so easy making elegant Pinot Noir – growing grapes here is easy, making elegant wines is not.” It’s certainly dogma that has plagued the region with stigma in the past, but growers are very conscious of this and there has been a tangible shift towards Pinot management that facilitates physiological ripeness before excessive sugar ripeness. How is this achieved?
“Timing”, says Craig Carter of Zebra Vineyards, “Doing a good job and getting the work done on time is as important as anything else we do. It’s about understanding the vines and what we expect from them, whilst always striving for perfection. Pinot is very hands on.”
“Given that we use a large percentage of whole bunches in our ferments, achieving ripe stems without over-ripening our fruit is a balancing act,” adds Billing. “I would rather see healthy, balanced fruit with vitality and lignified stems at harvest than pick really small bunches and berries that fail to yield an economically stable crop.”
Tim Austin-Moorhouse, of Mount Edward, touches on some of their approaches,
“We prune in a way that helps us reach our desired crop level but also maintain an open canopy. Our canopy management ensures good light exposure on the fruit whilst minimizing disease pressure. We try and improve vine health and stimulate vine immunity through seaweeds and organic forms of nutrients rather than an excessive spray regime. We try and improve the soil and its biology through the use of composts, teas and cover crops. We endeavour to use irrigation wisely balancing the needs of the vine against excessive vigour.”
Within these broad brushstrokes, there are finer details employed by Central Otago’s growers on a more personal, site-specific level, according to their individual philosophies and those of the winemakers.
The timing and amount of irrigation (infrequent, heavy soaks versus frequent, smaller doses), the timing and need for trimming, exposure of the fruit zone (laterals vs leaf, heavy vs light, east vs west), crop load, fruit thinning and so forth. The fragile skins of Pinot have to be protected from sunburn and excessive heat, yet those same skins require light and exposure to produce ripe tannins and avoid greenness.
The fruit zone is often duly opened, but what about lateral growth above the fruit zone, in a bid to reduce canopy density and young leaf, promoting less sugar accumulation and more flavour development from mature leaf? Does trimming height make a difference? Are higher crop loads more desirable in earlier years with larger canopies to prolong hang time and acid retention?
And what then of variability? Does it boost complexity or detract from uniformity and consistency?
“I have worked for a large number of winemakers who have different tolerances to variability”, says Dicey. “My personal view is that too much homogenous fruit tends to make mono-dimensional wines that may look ‘concentrated’ in their youth but fail to develop. Pinot Noir at its optimal is about multiple layers of complexity that you keep coming back to, rather than being sledgehammered. So some variability is acceptable, but again, it’s about overall balance, and the season drives this.”
Austin-Moorhouse is on the same page, exploring this concept from vine establishment, “We do see some positives in variability – we have just recently planted a block of Pinot in which three clones were mixed together at planting and when it crops will of course be fermented together – this was done on the understanding that the variability in the ripening of the clones will bring complexity.”
Perhaps the final hurdle to overcome, for all New World Pinot growers, isn’t necessarily the management of the grapevine, but a perceived dichotomy between grower and winemaker. We don’t need to pretend that we’re trying to make or emulate Burgundy, but that doesn’t mean we can’t adopt some of their great ideas, like the concept of the vigneron.
If we can bridge the gap between the winery and the vineyard, where growers have a better understanding of desired wine outcome and a knowledge of wine chemistry, wouldn’t that create greater transparency and thinking on behalf of both parties?
So too for the winemakers, venturing into the vineyard more to gain a greater understanding of vine physiology, in addition to the impact of staffing and other management decisions critical to the time of year.
It’s a synergy that is already beginning to happen, promising more great things from Pinot Central in the future. ν
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