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68 p r a c t i c a l w i n e r y & v i n e ya r d S e p t e M B e r 2 0 1 4 g r a p e g r o w i n g T erroir is a word that seems to appear everywhere now in grape and wine writing. It is almost like a French notional takeover. Many struggle with the exact meaning of the word terroir, but most understand it as an influence of the vineyard on wine style and quality. There are various definitions of terroir, some of which include the human influ- ence of tradition and history. Most associ- ate the terroir effect closely with the vineyard soil, and I do not have a prob- lem with most of these definitions. My long experience has taught me forcefully of the impact of place (the vine- yard) and time (the vintage year) on wine style and quality— factors that I think few would ignore. I would prefer to use an English term: provenance. It is widely used in the antique industry and for geol- ogy, but it occasionally is used in grape and wine writing. I understand its mean- ing to be "the effect of time and place on wine style and quality." I was prompted to write this column by a recent visit to Europe. I was in the vine- yard with a vineyard manager, and she informally complained to me that her input and ideas seemed to carry little weight with the company manager, who was also the winemaker. She said the winemaker regards all vineyard influ- ences as "due to terroir," and so her ideas for different management approaches receive little recognition. Winemakers and terroir On reflection, I realize that this is quite a common situation. If one analyses the majority of contemporary wine writing, a couple of constant themes emerge. One has to do with the winemaker, the other has to do with the terroir. We know that the winemaker is a person and speculate that the terroir is some abstract attribute of the vineyard. But are the winemaker and terroir the most important influences on wine style and quality? I find fault with the English language and the word winemaker. It infers that this person makes wine. There is no "grapemaker" who makes grapes. That person is a viticulturist. In European lan- guages, the term is enologist rather than winemaker. In fact, the enologist guides various processes to produce wine from grapes. If there is an organism to be called winemaker, it is surely yeast, which is responsible for alcoholic fermentation, not a human. An enologist guides/manages quite complex physio-chemical-biological pro- cesses to produce wine from grapes in a series of controlled environments. The viticulturist also guides/manages various physio-chemical but mainly biological processes to produce grapes suitable for winemaking. In an uncontrolled environ- ment, this is arguably the harder task. Both persons can be seen as managing a series of processes with an end product in sight. Are we to believe that the enolo- gist is the more important of the two in determining the style and quality of the end product, a bottle of wine? Or, are we to assume that the enologist and terroir are all that is important in determining wine style and quality? role of viticulturist in affecting wine style and quality Consider the vineyard factors that can affect wine style and quality. Of great importance are the vineyard site, grape varieties, clones and rootstocks planted there. The choice of site is one of the most important decisions viticulturists (and others) can make. The climate of a site is one of the most important components of terroir, as it has large effects on vine phenology, vine physiology, fruit composition and poten- tial wine quality. (I will consider soil effects later.) Of the climate elements, temperature is undoubtedly the most important. Sun- light, evaporation, wind speed, rainfall and humidity are also important—but not as important as temperature. The viticul- turist can have some control over the weather. Terroir, another word for viticulturist's influence? S M A R T V I T I C U L T U R E by Dr. Richard Smart Members of the Delegat's Wine Estates Marl- borough winemaking team, left to right: Angus (Gus) Altschwager, winemaker at Marlborough Winery; Robyn Dixon, group viticulturist; Nick Wright, manager of the Dashwood Vineyard, Marlborough, and Rob Trought, viticulturist. I find fault with the word winemaker. Does a person make wine, and not yeasts? Why then is there no grapemaker? That person is a viticulturist. Both manage biological processes. In North American vineyards, tempera- tures may be modified a little by frost machines, sunlight by reflective films, rainfall by irrigation and cover crop choice, and wind by the use of wind- breaks. In the United Kingdom I am investigating the use of plastic film around the fruit zone to increase temper- ature and reduce wind and rain effects. But I want to consider here other man- agement procedures by which a viticul- turist can have substantial impacts on grape composition and potential wine quality. In my experience, the two vine- yard practices that can have the most substantial effects on potential wine qual- ity are those of canopy and irrigation management. Many enologists I meet would disagree, they are primarily con- cerned only with vineyard yield. Canopy management, for example, involves appropriate pruning levels to achieve an open canopy on balanced vines, using guidelines like five buds per linear foot of canopy (15 buds per meter) and 14 buds retained at winter pruning per pound of pruning weight (30 buds per kilogram). There is the choice of an appropriate trellis system; perhaps simple vertical shoot positioning for low-vigor sites where pruning weights are less than 0.4 pounds per foot of vine row (0.6 kg per meter of vine row), or a divided trellis system where vigor is greater. I see more adoption of vertically divided canopies such as the Scott Henry and Smart Dyson because of the ease with which they may be mechanically harvested and sometimes mechanically pre-pruned. A properly pruned and shoot-posi- tioned grapevine canopy will have an appropriate level of canopy gaps and leaf and fruit exposure. Excessive fruit expo- sure to afternoon sun is to be avoided in warm to hot climates.