Replanting vineyard blocks in a downturn is something of a catch 22, says Marlborough winegrower Simon Bishell. Growers with uncontracted blocks could use a period of reduced demand to pull out ageing vines, but many won’t have the money to invest, says the owner and viticulturist at Caythorpe Family Estate in Marlborough.
“Initially, the cheapest way is to leave the trellis in place. But it’s not necessarily the most efficient way or the quickest way to get the crop off.” Simon Bishell
But for those who can carry the cost of redevelopment, it can be “a fresh start on a clean slate”, adds Simon, who recently pulled out a 1.5 hectare Pinot Noir block at Woodbourne, and is trialling micronised copper azole (MCA) treated posts in a “fresh start” with Sauvignon Blanc. The posts are produced at Kaituna Sawmill, 10km up the road and, because they don’t contain arsenic or chromium, any broken posts can be returned to the mill to burn in biomass boilers, helping power the sawmill’s operations. Meanwhile, the plastic from irrigation hoses pulled out in the redevelopment travels just 8km in the opposite direction, to be recycled at Future Post in Blenheim.
As well as changing variety and growing circularity, the redevelopment allows for a modernisation of trellis, including Klima clips to enable greater automation. Simon has previously replanted blocks on existing trellis, but found old vine roots remained in the soil, constraining the growth of new plants. “It took a long time for those vines to grow in something because you couldn’t extract all the old roots.”
Replacing diseased or dead vines in a piecemeal fashion created labour-intensive blocks, while compaction from 25 years of work remained an issue in status quo rows. In contrast, Simon has shifted the trellis over in this iteration, offsetting the main areas of compacted sward. “Initially, the cheapest way is to leave the trellis in place,” he says. “But it’s not necessarily the most efficient way or the quickest way to get the crop off.”
At Caythorpe, where Simon and his brother are the fifth generation on their family farm, blocks are harvested until vine age and low cropping means they are no longer financially viable. Those calculations will differ depending on the financial situation of individual companies, including debt loading, he says. “Right now, people don’t have a lot of money to be spending, particularly if you don’t have a supply contract for when it comes into production.”
It comes down to farm husbandry too, he says. “I’m a firm believer that if you treat your vines well, then you will get it back from them.” That includes not pushing young vines in their early years. “I think the harder you push them… then the more quickly they will decline at the other end of the spectrum.”
After removing the trellis and vines in 2024, Simon ran a cover crop for six months, to improve soil quality. In hindsight, he would have retained the cover crop for another season, to delay production of fruit that does not currently have a contract. Instead, he has decided to train the vines to the wire and two-bud prune them, in a partial hibernation before the first harvest. “It might be like that for two or three years.”
That means a true test of the new posts – with a harvester running through – will be delayed. “That’s a wee way off,” he says. “But patience is a virtue.”
This article was first published in New Zealand Winegrower magazine issue 155 and is republished with permission.
