Cultivation of the Soil, Part Two

We also cultivate the soil between the individual vines. With the Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc and Pinot Noir, as well as the Cabernet, we use a swivel-mounted arm which crumbles the soil

and chops up the vegetation. One certain disadvantage of this is the speed— .8 - 1.3 kilometres per hour. The advantage, compared with more aggressive and incisive systems, is that it forms no furrows, which

could lead to earth washing away during the next heavy rainfall.

Weingut Kollwentz

Burgenland

www.kollwentz.at

Cultivation of the Soil-Part 1, the Disc Harrow.

Now that the vines are finished with flowering—under ideal weather conditions, btw—we turn our attention to matters concerning the soil and its cultivation. Recent rainfall deposited some 120 litres of water per square metre onto our vineyards, which the ground happily accepted. And since we've had such heat in the past couple days, the topsoil is in perfect condition for cultivation. In our Pannonian climate, we have to reckon nowadays with increasing dryness, and for this reason we only did a cursory job of working over every other row. For this, depending upon the condition of the ground, we use  a cultivator—or as you see in the pictures, a disc harrow. Because of the contrary disposition of the discs and the oblique angle of their relation to one another, the soil is only lightly broken up, and the vegetation slightly chopped and lightly worked into the soil. This breaks up the capillary layers in the ground, hence reduces the amount of water lost to evaporation.

 

Weingut Kollwentz

Burgenland

www.kollwentz.at

...and now the greenery is growing!

We've got adequate moisture in the soil, sunshine and warm weather; everything is growing—the vines and the ground cover as well. One of our current tasks involves working biomass into these surfaces. Approximately three weeks before blossoming—or when the ground-cover grows to the point that that the vines would get too little light and air—that's when we get to mulching. Over the course of a few weeks, the ground-cover releases vital nutrients that the vine now has available to it at the time when it needs nourishment the most—at blossoming. Some of the lanes between the vine-rows will be turned-over with the cultivator. This depends upon the soil, as well as upon the grape variety and its current nutritional condition.
www.kollwentz.at

Planting Vines

We've just planted the new grapevines!

First we loosen the earth to a depth of 40 cm with a tractor and a planting-plough.

Then we place the new vines in a rotating gripping arm, which sets each one into a freshly opened aperture in the soil.

After this, the earth is tamped down lightly.

With the help of laser-beam technology, we can plant the vines in rows that are as straight as a poker, although the older tracts are not so well suited for this.

In those instances, we lay a wire along the vine-row, and follow it with the machinery.

Now the vines have even been christened by St Peter—and a hearty 'God Bless' on that account!

Weingut Kollwentz

Römerhof GmbH

Hauptstraße 120

A - 7051 Großhöflein

Tel. +43 2682 65158

Fax +43 2682 65158 13

kollwentz@kollwentz.at

www.kollwentz.at

Bottling...

over the course of the past two weeks we bottled the white wines.
the best part of this: the aromas!
...and no matter how lovely a glass of wine might be, there's really nothing like sticking your head in the not-quite-empty bottling tank,
and enjoying a remarkable experience: the bouquet of 6oo litres of wine, along with the additional 4400 litres of aroma-filled air!

Weingut Kollwentz
Römerhof GmbH
Hauptstraße 120
A - 7051 Großhöflein
Tel. +43 2682 65158
Fax +43 2682 65158 13
kollwentz@kollwentz.at
www.kollwentz.at

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We're finished with the pruning!

After nearly thirteen weeks, we're now done with the pruning—one of the main tasks of the vineyard-year.

At the same time, we've begun to remove the superfluous wood from the training-wires.

We leave about 5% of the year-old growth—that's 8-13 buds per vine. From each will grow a cane, which bears the leaves

and the grape clusters for this year's wine.

Here in the photo: the vineyard Steinmühle, grape variety Sauvignon Blanc, vines being cut down to stubs.

Weingut Kollwentz

Römerhof GmbH

Hauptstraße 120

A - 7051 Großhöflein

Tel. +43 2682 65158

Fax +43 2682 65158 13

kollwentz@kollwentz.at

www.kollwentz.at

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we're up to our ears in snow!

...and if you're tempted to say that this much snow
is in fact too much snow,
don't give up hope—
just do like Esther: believe that there's some item of interest
to be found underneath the frozen blanket
and stick your head in, right up to the ears!

Weingut Kollwentz
Römerhof GmbH
Hauptstraße 120
A - 7051 Großhöflein
Tel. +43 2682 65158
Fax +43 2682 65158 13
kollwentz@kollwentz.at
www.kollwentz.at

See the full gallery on Posterous