New Infrastructure for the Dry Year Ahead
Vineyards Require New Infrastructure Too
Supplementary Water
HOW MUCH RAINFALL DOES THE BAROSSA GET
The Barossa Valley is a dry place, we typically receive less than 400mls in a year, often over winter. Some years much less. As a result of the low rainfall and more importantly the timing of that rainfall (winter), disease pressures are low.
As a reference point, average rainfall in most French wine regions and much of Australia along the east coast is typically double or even more.
DIFFERENT VARIETIES WATER NEEDS
As you would anticipate, different grape varieties have different requirements for adequate growth and productivity. Whites such as Semillon need more water than Mediterranean varieties such as Grenache or Mataro. Shiraz and Cabernet sit somewhere in between.
Much of the Hayes Family Wines vineyards have access to drip irrigation albeit a number of our old blocks of Grenache in Ebenezer and Koonunga and in Eden Valley are dry grown with no access to supplementary water. Their root systems are deep but crop levels are variable.
DRIP IRRIGATION
Irrigation arrived in the Barossa in the 1970s. In our experience, drip irrigation provides the best solution for supplementary water in the Barossa. With drip irrigation a small amount of water ‘drips’ from singular points along a long dripper tube. Historically this was one drip per vine, delivering up to 2L per hour. New equipment provides less volume but more frequent drip points along the tube.
Dripper Hose Ready to be Deployed
We have strategically placed moisture monitoring devices throughout the vineyard. We water the varieties that need water, when they need water. Our want to stress our vines, but we are not looking for the vine to shut down and lose significant leaves, which can happen in dry grown vineyards in the really tough years. Vines can also die if overstressed.
Traditional irrigation that you see in broadacre farming is not typically seen in premium vineyards and wine regions.
what does drip irrigation achieve
We believe that drip irrigation balances efficient use of natural resources with the need to keep the vines alive and produce a sustainable crop. We do not see an impact or at least a significant impact on the crop quality with judicious use of drip irrigation. In fact, quite the opposite, adequate berry size is an important factor in wine balance.
Our New Thoroughfare through Block 4, 5, 8, 9 and 10
INFRASTRUCTURE
The most obvious form of infrastructure is the dripper tube, but their are mains, submains and storage and filter requirements. Step one for us was the deployment of more reliable dripper tube (the previous dripper tube was inefficient and unreliable) and new submains that now split the centre of the block. A vine was removed up the middle of the block. This will allow us to water different varieties at different times, critical when Grenache and Shiraz blocks for example run side by side as we have in Block 8 and Block 9 at the top of the Hill.
The Old Mataro Bush Vines ready for the Summer Ahead
what next
With new dripper tube installed, next step is to see what the weather holds. Will this year be another ‘average’ rainfall year with minimal supplementary requirements? I doubt it, but we will be ready for what the year brings.