In a continued effort to raise the quality of its wines, Emmanuel Delicata Winemaker has just completed a repeat performance of the pioneering exercise in ‘customised pruning’ it carried out last year.
The exercise was carried out by a professional team of four French pruning experts, who are responsible for pruning some of the most prestigious appellations and chateaux in France.
The team specialises in pruning vines for quality-focused vineyards and, specifically, those growing in a Mediterranean climate. Each pruner, who has a minimum of 15 years of pruning experience, averaged well over 1,200 vines per day during the six-day visit.
The very latest in pruning techniques was applied taking into consideration each and every vine’s particular grape variety and age, plus that vineyard’s soil composition, its microclimate and its IGT or DOK classification. The introduction of these customised pruning techniques is another step takenby Delicata to help its growers achievevineyard sustainability.
Sustainable viticulture, according to Jancis Robinson’s The Oxford Companion to Wine,is a form of viticultural practice which aims to avoid any form of environmental degradation while maintaining the economic viability of the vineyard.
It is defined by the Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education Programme (Sarep) at the University of California at Davis as “the principle that we must meet the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs”.
This form of viticulture has the same goals as organic and biodynamic viticulture with one difference: it incorporates the scientific method into the formula. This means it utilises the least amount of intervention possible while managing in a way that sustains the long-term health of the vineyards as well as the economic viability of the operation.
Sustainable viticulture views the vineyard as a whole system which creates high-level quality fruit production, reducing reliance on synthetic chemicals and fertilisers to protect the growers, the consumers and the environment.
Many conscientious vintners ascribe to this method and produce some very fine wines while pursuing a responsible higher goal. Universities and private organisations responsibly teach and encourage these practices.
Sustainable practices include achieving vineyard uniformity and vine balance as well as the management of soil, water, pests and human resources. In effect, it means paying careful attention to the many details of farming on a daily basis, ensuring each practice optimises vineyard inputs, such as water, energy and nutrients, as well as vineyard output, which is the yield of quality wine grapes. Being able to measure and quantify as many of these as possible is very important, too. The expression ‘if you can’t measure it, you can’t manage it’ is very true for sustainable winegrowing.
The customised pruning methods used on the vines grown to produce grapes that will go into Delicata’s QWPSR wines will also benefit from the reduced requirement for sprays and fertigation as a direct result of improved directional canopy growth. Even the varietal characteristics and the grape’s flavour compounds will improve, as well as maximising the amount of fruit produced so that growers reach their full DOK and IGT permitted yields.
The benefits of this latest customised pruning will be seen when the farmers involved harvest this year’s grapes in August and September.
A spokesperson at the Delicata winery said: “In our highly competitive world of wine, and being on a small island like ours with all the disadvantages that brings, sustainable viticulture is crucial and anything we can do to help our growers achieve that, especially while improving quality, is in everyone’s interest.”