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With changing weather conditions and scarcity of water, preservation of water is essential for the vineyards to survive during the hot summer months.
During the winter months we collect rainwater from our amphitheater of hills, valleys and roads through an integrated trench system, which drains into our irrigation dam. Here we store water to irrigate younger vineyards in the warmer months.
When it comes to the vineyards, 60% of the vineyard consists of heavier compacted sandstone and about 40% more sandy broken granite. To retain the soil capillary action and retain carbon, we do minimum tillage on these soils as they are exposed to wind erosion and tend to be low in organic matter.
We pack straw in the vineyards to retain topsoil and minimise water loss. The straw helps to hold water in the soil. In the mid rows we grow a variety cover crops in between a variety of natures herbs (we do not call them weeds) as we believe each plant has a function and is home to an specific species of organism that help build the soil in their own unique way.
The end result are soils that resemble later succession soils (old growth forest soils) higher in fungi than bacteria but with diversity of both.
