Rosie Allen / 19 May 2020
As nature springs to life in the north, winemakers are doubling down in the south.
Rosie Allen speaks to four growers from around the world about the challenges and
consolations that each of them experience in the month of May.
May in the northern hemisphere is when nature is
at its most enigmatic: hawthorns are garlanded
with clouds of frothy blossom, birds are in full song
and hedgerows and allotments alike flourish in the
emerging heat of early summer. But, these idyllic
signposts aside, for the winemaker it's no month
for lazing and dreaming. Here's where the hard few
months leading to harvest begin, and they must
prepare for the challenges of the growing season,
whether potential sunburn, excess vegetative
growth, pest control or even a late frost.
The other side of the globe, meanwhile, is
experiencing an equally important change: the
days are slowly shortening, temperatures have
begun to gently drop, and winemakers and their
vines are preparing for the sun to relinquish its
powers of warmth and sunlight for another year.
The toil of harvest is over and – if all has gone to
plan – healthy grapes are now undergoing their
near-magical metamorphosis from fruit to ferment
in oak barrel or steel tank. The pace of life in the
vineyard is slowing, nearing to a hush: it's time to
prepare for winter.
Overlooking the vineyards in the Los Lingues region in Chile
But while nature begins its slumber, activity in
the vineyard doesn't completely shut down:
preparations for next year's vintage are well
underway, fuelling the vines with the nutrients
they'll need to emerge next spring; well-fed, rested
and ready for the process of producing ripe,
healthy fruit for the new vintage. And with the
hottest succession of years on record transforming
springs and autumns around the world, growers
are increasingly preparing for the freak weather
events that now punctuate the traditional ebb and
flow of the winemaker's year.
We asked four growers across two hemispheres
what May looks like for them.
Northern Hemisphere: New shoots and darling buds
In the vineyard: In early spring, sap begins to rise in the vines and buds will begin to emerge. By May flowering will have begun, with flowers gradually growing bigger until they're ready for pollination and fertilisation, culminating (with any luck) in a crop of healthy fruit.
Christina Wess
Wachau, Austria
Christina and Reiner Wess
While burgeoning green shoots lend nature a
sense of invincibility, the threat of damage to new
buds lingers ominously in the vineyard at this time
of year. 'In spring it can actually be a very sensitive
time, because it's when flowering begins,' says
Christina Wess, whose joint venture with father
Rainer Wess has been producing some of Austria's
most exciting wines (no mean feat in a country
whose wines are so ripe for discovery). 'While it's a
very special time because the vine is 'opening' up
so that new grapes can eventually emerge on the
other side, it also means that diseases could enter
the bud very easily during the flowering and could
cause a lot of harm, especially the mildew fungus
which is most likely to infect the vine during
flowering.' Monitoring vines to make sure there's
a good amount of air flowing through is crucial to
preventing the onset of these diseases, which can
easily ruin or taint a whole crop.
'The neuburger grape, for example,' says Christina
'is a very old and temperamental grape variety.
The clusters are very dense and as we don't want
any botrytis influence on our wines, it presents
a big challenge in keeping the air flowing and
rot at bay. This year we'll be managing the berry
clusters by using our spraying machine filled just
with air (not with any chemicals), spraying during
flowering, so the chance of botrytis is minimised
naturally.'
An Austrian star from a father-and-daughter
operation in Krems, this
ripe, focused grüner veltliner is a
must-try, with flavours of stone fruit
and spice, and the grape's signature
pepper-pot twist on the finish. 13.5%
£9.95 bottle | £59.50 six
Apostolos Thymiopoulos
Naoussa, Greece
Apostolos Thymiopoulos
'Nature respects you if you respect nature' is
the philosophy of Greek winemaker Apostolos
Thymiopuolos, a proponent of biodynamic
methods who maintains that a deep respect of
the soil is the key to creating wines with real
character. It's this belief that lies at the heart of his
springtime preparations.
By the time May rolls around, Apostolos has
already done much of the hard work that will
get the vines into good shape for bud-break and
flowering to come, undertaking yield-taming
pruning, which will encourage smaller yields
of more concentrated berries – 'crucial,' says
Apostolos 'for a very productive variety such as
xinomavro and best avoided on cold days because
the wood is harder when temperatures are low and
the risk of damaging during pruning is high'. This
process is followed by the application of nutrientrich
composts ensuring the vines are thriving in
time for the growing season.
'Organic principles combined with a use of
biodynamic practices gives us a real advantage.
By completely avoiding pesticides and chemical
fertilizers, we allow the growth of micro-flora,
making the soil healthy and well aerated. This
means that the roots tend to go deep into the soil
to find water and other necessary elements; deep
roots make the vine durable and tolerant to other
hazards later in the year.'
Resembling a cross between a pinot
noir and a nebbiolo, this pure and
elegant Greek red comes from the
master of the xinomavro grape,
Apostolos Thymiopoulos. Friendly
yet complex with a wonderful
perfume of red fruits and a hint of
mint. Drink now to 2023. 13%
£10.95 bottle | £65.50 six
Southern Hemisphere: A vintage of heat and smoke
In the vineyard: It's a bitter irony that as winemakers return to a way of agriculture that's more attuned to the ebb and flow of the seasons that Mother Nature herself is shifting dramatically out of kilter from traditional farming patterns. It's in the southern hemisphere that the effects of our warming planet are being most profoundly felt, as the devastating recent bushfires in Australia have proven.
Mac Forbes
Yarra Valley, Victoria, Australia
Mac Forbes
'Obviously Australia was devastated by the fires
over Christmas,' says Mac Forbes, the man behind
our Blind Spot range and his own Mac Forbes label
wines. 'However, in the Yarra Valley we had an
extraordinary harvest with cooler temperatures,
regular rain and perfect balance in the vines.
We did also have a bit of smoke hang around
the valley, so we just need to keep assessing the
wines for any signs of smoke taint. Fingers crossed
our babies are going to be ok. We certainly tried
numerous approaches to minimise any pick up of
such compounds.'
In autumn and winter, we're already working
really hard to build greater soil health: we're busy
applying undervine compost as well as reseeding
any mid rows with perennial grasses or some
clover undervine that will naturally die off in
spring. We'll also conduct soil analysis and
begin pruning.
Mac Forbes with his daughter
Towards the end of the process, as the cellar
gently warms in early spring, we really start to
see the wines come to life. At this stage we begin
preparation of bottling of rieslings and give the
pinot and chardonnay wines longer to wake.
Sometimes doing nothing is the most powerful
thing. Something we humans find very hard to do.
It's a bit like cooking with great produce. Don't
mess around with it too much!'
Australia's King Valley is a home
from home for many Italian white
wine grapes. Garganega, the Soave
grape, thrives in this part of Victoria,
offering bags of personality,
spice and enticing stone-fruit
flavours. 13.5%
£9.50 bottle | £114 dozen
Cristóbal Undurraga
Colchagua Valley, Chile
Cristóbal Undurraga
Just as humans turn to nutrient-dense foods to
see us through the biting winds and lashing rains
of autumn and winter, so too does the soil: 'The
vines have worked all spring and summer season
to produce these unique grapes, so it needs to be
fed,' says Cristóbal Undurraga, who spent many
years at his family winery, Undurraga, before
setting up his new venture, Viña Koyle, in Chile's
Colchagua valley.
'In this way, we return a hand back to the soil
that is the vine's source of food. The biodynamic
compost we prepare in our vineyard is the
balanced nutrients we give to increase the soil
biological life, to make them strong and healthy
to go to sleep well fed during the recess cycle.'
Cristóbal's vineyards have seen unprecedented
unsettled weather conditions, meaning the grapes
need thorough assessment pre-vinification to
make sure the very best wine can be made
from them.
Cristobal Unduragga in the vineyard
'The decision and preparations that we will
undertake in the winemaking process will depend
on what each grape variety turns out like after
the harvest season,' says Cristóbal. For example,
2019 has been the most extreme year of a ten
year cycle of dryness. This has resulted in very
fatigued vines with low yields, terribly affected by
the past 2019 winter, the driest winter of Koyle's
14 years of history, where we had 50% less water
than the driest year before, and with 20% of the
rain that we expected. Considering this, the yields
will be dramatically low and the concentration very
intense, making this season a very special one, but
one where we have to fine tune both viticulture
and vinification.
Making sure the winery itself is fit for purpose is
probably the least glamorous aspect of autumn
preparations, but vitally important. 'For the
vinification process all of our stainless-steel tanks,
barrels, foudres and concrete eggs must be
scrupulously clean. Most essential of all is to make
sure we've got a robust winemaking team. During
the year we are three winemakers in charge of the
winery, but during the harvest time and vinification
process we reinforce our team with six more
winemakers who will help in each process of the
vinification, to make sure the wine is perfect.'
Chilean sauvignon with a twist! Sauvignon
gris is the pink-skinned variation of sauvignon
blanc, sharing its familiar zesty crispness but
overlaying it with a light, musky, peach scent
and a slightly rounder palate and flavour.
Intriguing and delicious. 13.5%
£7.95 bottle | £95 dozen