Finally the huge task of winter pruning is completed and everyone is enjoying the longer days and warming temperatures. Frost fighting systems are started up and checked to ensure that they are ready to protect the emerging buds which will first begin to appear in early October. The first of the spring cover crops will be drilled between the vine rows to help build organic matter, improve soil structure and health, and contribute to increased general biodiversity. Biodynamic preparation 500 (cow dung over-wintered in buried cows horns) is applied to help stimulate the soil biology. The vine trellis foliage wires, that are so important for shoot positioning later in the spring, are shifted out of the way of new growth. Irrigation systems are given a careful overhaul as are the vineyard tractors.
This year’s Pinot Noirs and Chardonnays are slowly awakening from their cold winter of elevage in the barrel cellars and soon the malolactics will miraculously be starting by themselves. It’s still a little too early to really understand the quality and true character of the vintage but early signs are very encouraging indeed.
