Terroir Update: Lessons learned along the way | Spring 2021

Hardscrabble Vineyard

Hardscrabble Vineyard has been a continuous evolution. The first vines were planted in 1985. By the early 2000s it became evident that many uninformed decisions had proven detrimental to wine quality: Mismatches of soils and variety, a failure to respect landscape form (planting in swales, dips, and low areas), inefficient row direction (E/W), excessive spacing, and overly ambitious training systems (Lyre and GDC). To name just a few.

It became abundantly clear that in order to achieve the next level of wine quality the majority of the vineyard had to be pulled up and replanted. This process had to be gradual and systematic, as Linden did need grapes to make enough wine to keep the business going. We are now enjoying the fruits of our efforts, but for this article I would like to share some of the setbacks and lessons experienced along the way.

Set Backs

Time is relevant

The initial ten-year vineyard reorganization plan took just shy of twenty years to achieve. There were two significant setbacks: The first was based on naïveté. I recall winegrowers in France telling me to wait five years or more before replanting.

How absurd, I thought. We could turn around a block in a year: Pull out vines and trellising in the fall after harvest; add manure and lime; rip and sow cover crops the next year, then plant the next spring.

Eventually, experience showed that the Europeans were right. That ground needed to rest more than a year or two. Short cuts resulted in weak vines and a much longer time- line to get to full production. Fallow time needed lengthening.

March 2014

Ouch. In late February, the sap had started to flow in young vines. One early March morning the temperature fell to around 0°F. Subsequent bud break and shoot development was uneven, and vines eventually started to collapse. It took several years for individual vines to succumb to the conductive tissue damage, but eventually over 50 percent of vines four years or younger died from trunk or graft union issues.

This was the new climate change reality. We used to worry about bud mortality from mid-winter temperatures in the negatives. Now the worry is temperature fluctuation. The good news is that once vines age a bit (6 to 8 years?) they seem resilient.

Two observations: First, south-facing slopes were the hardest hit. This makes sense as springtime vine activity is stimulated by an earlier warming. Then they may experience greater day to night temperature fluctuations.

And second: smaller vines had greater mortality than larger vines. It seemed that trunk girth at the graft union may have played a role, perhaps correlating to the observation that older vines did better than younger vines.

Lessons

1. Respect landscape form

Hardscrabble has many slopes, ridges, knolls, dips, and swales. Convex is good, concave is bad. It’s that simple. If I tried to squeeze in just one more row or run the rows a bit longer than the convexity of the slope dictated, I came to regret the decision.

In red grape blocks those over extensions became what we now call the Rosé corners. Big, vigorous vines do not ripen their fruit well. It’s best not to even try to make red wine from them. But the Rosé can actually be quite nice.

2. Some varieties are extremely soil sensitive.

In a humid, high precipitation climate, understanding the relationship of vine to soil available water is critical to the long-term success of a premier terroir driven winegrower. If nothing else, that is the most important lesson I have learned from decades of visits to another rainy winegrowing climate: Europe.

Soil, slope, and aspect all play a role in pairing the right variety to the right place. Soil is the most important. High-capacity soils (water retentive and lots of nutrients) are unforgiving to most red wine grapes (with the possible exception of Merlot). Chardonnay and most whites do need more nitrogen and water, but there are limits.

Matching soil characteristics to variety requirements was the impetus for starting this terroir project. Soil mapping helped, but observation of previous plantings on the same site was critical.

The steeper the slope, the less water the soil can absorb and retain. In our climate, the steeper the better. Until you roll a tractor.

Slope aspect matters. South absorbs more sun, is hotter, and dries out the soil faster. This is advantageous to late ripening reds such as Cabernet Sauvignon and Petit Verdot, but a disadvantage to whites where acid retention is important.

3. Vine age matters

Vine age at Hardscrabble now ranges from 2 to 37 years. Young vines are more sensitive to fluctuations in rainfall. Their root system is more superficial and is more dependent on soil surface moisture or lack thereof. (Hardscrabble is not irrigated.) This can be problematic in some vintages, as recent observations demonstrate:

  • 2017: an exceptional vintage with just the right amount of rainfall at the right time. Even young vines produced great wine.

  • 2018: a consistently wet vintage where basically no vines of any age experienced the hydric stress needed to produce great wine.

  • 2019: An extremely hot, dry end to the growing season stressed out young vines to the point of berry shriveling and shut down. Old vines produced very good wine, but young vines did not.

  • 2020: great fluctuations in soil moisture in August and September resulted in berry swelling and bunch rot in young vines, but old vines fared much better.

Terroir winemaking

Hardscrabble Vineyard is now “reorganized.” Fifteen of our 20 acres have been replanted, and the wine results are very encouraging. As we continue to learn our blocks and the vines age, I can see only advancement in quality.

The purpose for this journey was to understand our terroir and maximize its best characteristics. This can be done only through what I call “Terroir Winemaking” which is traditional, conservative, and boring. The only ingredients are grapes and sulfur (although in full disclosure, we did do some chaptalization in 2018). Grapes arriving at the crush pad must be balanced to avoid any manipulations, additives, or clever winemaking. The vineyard must speak, not the winemaker. How else can we learn our terroir?

Grape Press, Spring 2021

Jim LawGrape Press