Vineyard profiles

We continue our feature of introducing you to a few Ballarat vineyards…to show you where the wine comes from. After all, good wine is definitely made in the vineyard. There are a number of things that come to influence a vineyard’s potential to produce high quality fruit, and the interactions can be quite complex. Often, two adjacent blocks of vine can produce two quite different wines.

The French understand this concept better than most - they have a term, terroir, which encompasses all the influences that come to bear on what sort of wine is produced from a given block of vines. These influences can range from obvious, to quite subtle:

  • the overall climate of the region (or macro-climate)
  • soil type, structure and depth (e.g. a small strip of a particular soil type, like that in Coonawarra)
  • the level of moisture and nutrients available in the soil
  • altitude and orientation (e.g. north facing to capture more sun, and provide shelter from cold south-westerly winds)
  • a particularly sheltered or exposed site, that influences the local climate (or mesoclimate). An example would be trees that provide a windbreak, or perhaps even prevent cool air from draining away – thus causing a problem with frost.

In addition, cultural practices can influence not only whether a particular disease may be problem, but also the quality of wine produced:

  • trellising
  • pruning levels
  • irrigation and fertiliser regimes (ranging from natural to artificial)
  • control of pests and diseases
  • cropping levels
  • foliage management (shoot thinning, tucking in and arranging canes, leaf plucking), and consequently
  • Fruit exposure.

A hands-on approach in the vineyard.

Ballarat’s marginal climate demand labour intensive practices in the vineyard to achieve optimal ripeness and flavour in the grapes. These practices include shoot thinning and intensive foliage management, leaf plucking to provide an open canopy and crop-thinning to regulate yield. This labour intensive approach dictates that most vineyards in the Ballarat area are smaller than those in warmer areas, but then the person you meet at cellar door is also most likely the owner – who can tell you what it is like in the vineyard in all seasons.

This season’s profile is of the wightwick vineyard, nurtured by Keith and Anne Wightwick.