harvest reports
In Sync with Nature
To My Friends:
Think of uncultivated soil as a battery constantly increasing its energy.
If our vines are too vigorous, we can decrease this energy by not cultivating at all. This will withhold nutrients from the vine and hamper growth. When a vineyard has achieved a balance of growth and grape production, we can stabilize it for a while by cultivating every other row, metering out energy as needed. A vineyard that is struggling with slow growth can usually be revived by releasing abundant nutrients into the root system by cultivating the entire vineyard.
New to California is a piece of farm equipment known as a spader. Fairly commonplace in Europe, it is one of the most effective pieces of equipment for tillage that maintains soil structure. The spader acts like a shovel penetrating 1 to 14 inches down into the soil to turn it over while carefully maintaining soil structure. When the soil is carefully broken open and turned over, it activates the organic material in the soil. This allows the vine to feed from the soil when it needs it, in its own natural growth cycle.
When the right combinational of rootstock and variety are planted in the right place, soil is tended appropriately, and soil biology is vibrant, the vine will feed and grow in a cycle that is in step with nature. For example, if our vines bud out at the Spring Equinox, bloom at the Summer Solstice, harvest close to the Fall Equinox and go into dormancy during the Winter Solstice, they are in sync with a major natural cycle and therefore will be in position to absorb and reflect back the true vintage characters. Manipulation of the soil and the addition of artificial nutrients will throw the plant out of cycle and balance, thereby obscuring delicate characters associated with vintage and site.
Benziger Family Vineyards
Sonoma Mountain, April 25, 2003