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Soil/Dry Grown
The soil structure is typical of Margaret River. With an average of 1.5m of gravely-loam and a thick layer of clay below that, the nutrient roots find what they need in the top layers without picking up excess water. The tap root gets all the moisture it needs from the saturated clay below. The dripper irrigation system used for the establishment of the vineyard is now used only in the event of an unusually hot summer.
Cover Crop
We plant a cover crop between the rows which has several uses. It holds the soil during the heavy winter rains and provides a very effective wind break for the fragile new spring shoots. Come summer, we slash the crop to provide natural mulch which breaks down to provide natural nutrients. The cover crop also suppresses weeds which avoids chemical control.
Crop Thinning
We control the potential yields during the winter with extensive hand pruning. Some years this requires further control by crop thinning at veraison, just before the grapes start to ripen, thus controlling the eventual yields and increasing character intensity. |
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