Block Uniformity

Block FARM DETAILS Location: Auburn, South Australia Farm size: 780ha, 500ha uniformity under grapes Rainfall: Annual 520mm plus up to Emma Leonard Photo: Emma Leonard 100mm (1ML/ha) irrigation Soil: Red-brown earth (terra rossa) High resolution spatial data is matching over soft limestone/bluestone and grape variety to soil and location alluvial clays Enterprises: Wine grapes – Shiraz, to simplify grape management and Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, maximise wine quality due to Chardonnay, and Riesling, and small minimising in block variation. blocks of minor varieties Personnel: Viticultural, reat wines start with great locate headlands on land suitable administration and workshop grapes and Colin Hinze’s for equipment and less suited for team - 20 full time plus seven Gobjective as Vineyard growing vines. regular casuals Manager for Taylors is to manage the This has resulted in a patchwork of Yield: Average grape yield 7-8t/ha soil and vineyard planting for quality varieties across the 500 hectares and productivity. of vineyard. Therefore, Colin and Cabernet Sauvignon. A further “We want to produce uniform his team of 14 vineyard hands 10 per cent is planted to Merlot parcels of grapes of sufficient and two viticulturists require and there are other small blocks of quantity that the winemakers can excellent vineyard maps and simple minor varieties. manage as a batch; the next parcel management systems to ensure may differ but this allows optimum operations are carried out in the Both rootstock and variety are fermentation and management of right place and at the right time. selected to match these changeable each parcel by the winemaker,” soil and topographic conditions. The property’s elevation ranges from explained Colin Hinze. Blocks now range in size from 2.5ha 330m above sea level to 420m. In to 10ha. Wine grapes have been grown at the low lying gullies, heavier soils the Taylor’s property in the Clare that hold more water are found Data layers for Valley in South Australia for over and these cooler areas typically suit 40 years. Initially the philosophy was the white varieties, Chardonnay vineyard design to plant every acre and maximise and Riesling, which each covers Joining Taylors in 2005 as a output and large areas were planted about 10 per cent of the planted viticulturist with some experience in the mid 1990s. Since 2004, this area. The mid-slopes rising to the in and considerable enthusiasm philosophy has changed and a major hilltops are areas of less vigour and for precision viticulture, Colin has vineyard redevelopment program greater exposure, with soil depth been involved with helping to guide of the low value areas of the estate and water holding capacity reducing and implement this program of made way for new plantings. These with elevation. These higher areas vineyard redesign. plantings aim to match grape are planted to reds with 25 per cent variety to soil and aspect across this of the total vineyard planted to “Given that all trellis and irrigation undulating property as well as to Shiraz and a further 35 per cent to infrastructure is removed prior to PA IN PRACTICE Volume 11 Issue 3 7 “A detailed digital elevation model identified preferred row orientation” grubbing the vines, we have the equipped with a yield monitor was Colin uses remote sensing via light opportunity to re-design the vineyard purchased. The following year a aircraft to collect plant cell density layout from the ground up.” yield monitor was added to the (PCD) data each January at veraison, second harvester. although in the early days the time 2004 was also the year when between the flight and receiving the “I would love to say that we have Murray River irrigation water was processed PCD data was too long. seven to eight years of yield data first introduced to the Clare Valley. By the time the vigour data was across the vineyard but the reality Amid concerns over importing processed and delivered, decisions is that an around the clock harvest salt, an extensive program of soil about harvesting the early varieties operation cannot be stopped by surveying with electromagnetic had been taken. (EM38) equipment was conducted a failing yield sensor or the need as part of developing irrigation for regular recalibration due to the Elevation data is also acquired during management plans. The issuing of build-up of residue on the belts. the EM38 survey and this is used to produce high resolution digital water licences relied on such plans. “We do have multiple years of topographic maps. EM38 provides information about yield data for the majority of changes in soil texture (particularly the vineyard and as grapes are Regardless of the level of information clay content), moisture content and not a rotation crop, we can gain used to plan a new vineyard, there the concentration of salts within meaningful data within a few years will always be geographical and the soil profile to a depth of 0.75m of starting collection.” business factors which will influence or 1.5m depending on how the the design. At Taylors, the following Colin finds that yield data really instrument is used. criteria are taken into account: helps to reinforce information Colin was lucky in his initial year about the size and location of • The need to work within existing because a new grape harvester underperforming areas. physical constraints, including natural waterways, existing roadways, irrigation mainlines and a high pressure gas pipeline. • Row orientation to be up-and-down the dominant slope, not across. • Minimal short rows for operational efficiency. • Headland size and slope to be suitable for machine harvest and multi-row machinery turning. • Minimum 2.5ha block size to optimise fruit parcels for winery efficiency. • Minimal soil type variability within each block, aiming for more uniform ripeness and quality of fruit. Back in 2009, an area of 80ha was chosen for study to examine the potential benefits of using high resolution spatial data to better inform vineyard design. This study was funded by what was the Grape and Wine Research and Development Corporation, now the Australian Grape and Wine Authority (AGWA). The vineyard redesign was initially based on a conventional 75m grid soil survey Figure 1. The creation of the topographic wetness index (b) from the plus topography data. This system elevation model (a), in combination with EM38 (c) provides an was now compared with a revised understanding of how soil texture and moisture may interact. design based on the use of these (d). The black circle indicates a potential location for a separate block layers of higher resolution data. in the design. Initially, no strong relationship was Source: Originally published in the paper by Colin Hinze and Rob Bramley - Below Ground Management for found between yield and PCD data Quality and Productivity - presented in the proceedings of ASVO & PGIBSA 2011. gathered between 2006 and 2008. 8 Issue 3 Volume 11 PA IN PRACTICE aim is to have uniform treatments within a block. He has experimented with differential picking, which research has shown to be profitable where high and lower value wines are both made. In reality there is only a small market for the very high value wines, so Colin aims to provide Taylors’ winemakers with suitably sized parcels of fruit to be PA applications treated as a batch. This approach Intensive soil testing targeted removes the complexities of split locations based on spatial knowledge picking and allows each batch to be Electromagnetic soil maps 2004 managed appropriately to maximise Annual PCD Imaging 2006 wine quality. GPS dGPS sub 50cm used for yield A new AGWA funded trial being mapping 2006 hosted at Taylors is using a harvester Grape yield monitoring 2006 mounted fluorescence sensor to measure and map phenolic Grape quality mapping on trial 2015 compounds of grapes. The aim is Photo: Emma Leonard to determine whether their spatial distribution can be related to changes However, with further analysis measurement of success of this in wine quality, and whether these of the three years of PCD data, approach is a decade away. However, compounds are influenced by yield. some recommendations for block if the objective of greater uniformity separation into different zones across within a block can be achieved, this More details of this trial work by the 80ha area were developed. offers opportunities to improve the CSIRO will be reported in future quality of wine made and help to issues of Precision Ag News. The detailed digital elevation model better match management to the (Figure 1a) helped clearly identify Biog: Colin Hinze has nearly 20 growth stage of the whole block. preferred row orientation and where years of professional experience headlands should be located. Currently Colin cannot justify in the wine industry. In 2005 the research and establishment he joined Taylors Wines. In Another output from the digital time required to adopt in-crop PV 2014, at the inaugural Clare elevation model is the Topographic management practices. Instead he Valley Winemakers Hall Of Wetness Index (TWI), which prefers to focus on establishing Fame Awards, Colin received identifies ‘wetter’ and ‘drier’ areas blocks that have minimal in- the Viticulturist of the Year of land based on the upslope area block variation, enabling uniform Award for his contribution to the and relative slope of that land treatments across the block. advancement of the region. (Figure 1b). So while irrigation practices and Details: On its own, this image is not easy the use of mulch or even ripping Colin Hinze, 0404 819 330, to interpret, but when combined may vary between blocks, Colin’s [email protected] with the EM38 (Figure 1c) image, the result highlighted a distinct area which had both higher electromagnetic conductivity and higher wetness (Figure 1d).

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