As winter draws to a close, the vineyard team is looking ahead to the new season. Pruning is complete and the final "love jobs" are being finished off. Old merlot vines are being reestablished and returned to original Shiraz, being more suited to the bony hilltops of our site. Reworking grapevine trunks involves cutting off the head of the vine and training up a new trunk from a latent bud low on the trunk structure. Shiraz is particularly challenging to retrain, as it tends to push fewer latent buds than cultivars like Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. This is worsened when Shiraz is grafted onto rootstock, since the soil-Shiraz root interface, where latent buds cluster, is removed. These combined cultivar and cultural factors have made for a challenging rework block, with some Shiraz trunks failing to grow a new shoot that can be trained into a trunk. To address this, we're grafting Shiraz buds back into Shiraz trunks, physically placing buds where we need them to build future trunks. Ultimately, this process of trunk re-establishment will give us new "pipework" to better support the fruit and canopy that make fine wine.
Maintenance programs are underway to have our systems ready for the busy season. The team is servicing machinery — tightening every bolt and greasing every nipple — and new equipment has everyone excited for the growing months ahead. With an El Niño pattern officially declared in June, our focus will shift to managing heat through spring and summer. Cover crops sown back in April will be cut and side-thrown under vine, creating natural mulch and boosting the soil's water-holding capacity. Maintenance on our water supply systems is also underway. Our planting program at TarraWarra Estate continues this spring. Ground will be broken on a south-facing greenfield site for new Chardonnay plantings. The team will install trellis infrastructure — wire and posts — through September and October, ahead of a November planting. August is a month for thinking and planning. With pruning behind us, we'll spend the coming weeks crossing t's and dotting i's, eagerly awaiting the first green shoots of spring. Sam Parker Viticulturalist
