High Density Vineyards
In an ongoing effort to explore the influence of best viticulture practices on wine quality we have established two High Density vineyards.
WHY DO HIGH DENSITY PLANTING?
Historically, vine density and row spacing was a function of available land, equipment and techniques of the time. In Australia commercial vineyard tractors are typically based on farm or orchard models with an overall width of 1.5m to 2m; this has necessitated vineyard rows of between 2.5m to 3.5m for adequate machinery access and clearance.
Over the past decade, many cool climate wine growers in Australia have learnt that vines grown with closer spacing between plants and rows have greatly improved quality outcomes. However, the density limit remains dictated by the tractor’s minimum width.
In an ongoing effort to explore the influence of best viticulture practices on wine quality we have established two High Density vineyards (12,120 vines/ha) and a Medium Density vineyard (6,060vines/ha), made possible by importing some specialised European vineyard equipment, including a 67cm wide tractor, to be able to work in 1m rows and allowing us to plant our vineyard at the same density used on the best slopes of the Cote d’Or.
High density planting creates greater competition between vines resulting in deeper root systems, smaller bunch and berry sizes and most significantly, in greater flavour concentration and fruit quality.
These are all key attributes that we believe are promoting wine quality and what will help to counteract the impact of climate change and extreme weather events.
SPEDDING VINEYARD
After searching far and wide across the Peninsula for 15 years, we believe that this is one of the best vineyard sites on the Mornington Peninsula. The combination of its location, its easterly aspect and the new vineyard architecture we have adopted, makes this the most exciting project we have embarked upon since Ten Minutes by Tractor began.
The Spedding Vineyard is now home to Mornington Peninsula’s first high-density organic Pinot Noir vineyard. Planting began on 5 December 2016 on the east facing slope, just a stone’s throw from our current cellar door and restaurant and we now have 18,500 vines covering just 1.48 ha. In 2017 we cultivated the opposite west facing slope and planted 10, 400 vines of medium-density Chardonnay on 1.72 ha.
GABRIELLE VINEYARD
This block was originally planted to Pinot Gris in October 2004 and became the region’s first organically certified vineyard in 2007. This site has a great Easterly aspect, rich volcanic red soils and is very well protected.
In November 2019 we planted our new high density Chardonnay vineyard, named after our eldest daughter Gabrielle. The vines are planted at over 4 times the density (75cm x 1.1m x 1.1m) of a normal vineyard to promote competition, drive root systems deeper into our red volcanic soils, and promote smaller bunches, berries and quality.