What goes into the planting of a vineyard, by Hugh Hamilton of McLaren Vale, is worth our time.
The planting of a vineyard is far from as simple as this video (below) makes it look.
I got an Email from Hugh Hamilton Wines in the McLaren Vale of South Australia. Don’t we just love how an entity half way around the world, and on the opposite hemisphere, can reach out and get someone’s attention within minutes?
As I read the E-Mail, I thought, “Wow, this is a lot of information to take in… Lots going on: what they’re doing, what they’re selling as chatskis, exciting happenings in the vineyards, keeping up-to-date with all things Black Sheep in 2014 (with their stylish calendar featuring 12 stunning new black and white images), finding a new wine and food match with recipe each month, perfect for the season!
A lot…
They wrote…
The vineyard is a place of constant evaluation, review and renewal based on the never ending quality quest to find the most suitable grape variety for the soil types in our vineyards. This is then matched to customer preferences for our wines and leads to some expensive choices as to the makeup of our vineyards. These are weighty decisions because apart from the cost of replanting and growing new grapes it means we have taken valuable land out of production for many years. They need to be correct ones.
I kept scrolling, looking for that nugget that would mean gold to me and you. I knew it had to be in there somewhere. And, I wasn’t disappointed… at the very bottom of the page… I was so pleased that I patiently scrolled down to the end to discover a video. I thought, “Why not? I’ve come this far.”
It proved to be the golden ticket I had been hoping for… I’ve seen the planting of a vineyard, but not everyone has, and this video is really worth sharing.
What goes into the planning of a vineyard
As I watched it, I realized, not only is this a great “How it’s done” video, but I caught glimpses of Southern Australia and how it’s done there… The people are different than in California. It’s rare to see anyone Anglo willing to get his hands muddy, sadly, unless it’s an owner of a small vineyard. As I was watching the video, I was struck by that. Our local city Anglos who can’t find work would rather hold up a sign than to find a way to the vineyards… which is very easy, by the way. One has only to find the pick-up spot, and get in the truck.
I’m not in their shoes, and I can think of a myriad of reasons why they wouldn’t, honestly; like mental illness, so I’m not judging. It’s just an observation. I’ve yet to see one white person not biologically related to the vineyard or winery go into them in California, and I’ve been all over this state… They’re there in small family vineyards, but they’re an endangered species in the wine industry otherwise.
I was also struck by the dog in this video, just happily hanging around. That might happen in a small, private vineyard, but in any corporate vineyard that I’ve seen in my state, it’s not going to happen. You have to slow down and smell the roses, when you have dogs around, and commodity land isn’t that tuned in.
Here’s the video of how root stock gets planted into a vineyard, step by step. Enjoy!
New Vines in the Black Sheep Paddocks! from Hugh Hamilton Wines on Vimeo.
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