On a winter’s morning, with a sliver of sunshine on the horizon, headlights puncture the cloak of dawn as the vineyard team manoeuvre through the rows to an area dedicated to growing new vines – the nursery.
It is here that the team will begin the process of uplifting baby vines that have been carefully nurtured through the summer and autumn months, and prepare them for the next phase of growth.
Our Vineyard Manager – Nic Taylor and Supervisor Cory Bridge are on hand to coordinate temporary staff, who hail from all around the world, to hand-pick the rootlings and transport them to nearby sheds for sorting.
Once there, the team of four quietly trim, grade and bundle the vines. They are graded into A grade and B grade, pruned with two buds on the spur and bundled into piles of 50.
It’s repetitive work, but as local radio music blares from a dusty speaker in the corner, the work goes quickly.
On this occasion 12,500 rootlings were extracted from the nursery, creating over 200 A-grade bundles.
Cory describes how long the process takes, “To gently extract the vines and prepare them for storage will take us the best part of two to three days. And that’s if the weather stays clear. If not, we’ll have to pivot and start work on other jobs.”
“There are always other jobs,” he says with a grin.
“Life in the vineyard is never dull.”
Each bundle is bathed for one to two hours and then packed in sealed pallets and put in the cool room at the winery until needed. They will be checked regularly to ensure good health and will be replanted in the not-so-distant future.
Vineyard Manager Nic Taylor explains what we intend to do with the rootstock, “As with all things viticulture, we plan for the future but are always prepared for those plans to change.”
The vines bundled this winter are mostly a Chardonnay clone from our Mount Barrow vineyard in the Great Southern.
“The intention is to plant it in Margaret River to ensure clonal diversity in our vineyards. However, things might look a bit different by the time we are actually planting. The amount needed could change or the location within the vineyard might alter.”
The nursery is an important component of our viticultural practices, and we’ve had an on-site location in Margaret River for more than a decade. This is to ensure we have full quality control over the rootstock we use in our vineyards. We can monitor what vines are better suited to the terroir and climate or we can replicate existing clones that produce the flavour profile we want for our winemaking style.
