In March 2012 we planted our first vines on the Rathfinny Wine Estate, all precision planted using a GPS-guided machine.
Words by Mark Driver
Many people have been asking me what grape varieties we have planted? Choosing the variety is the easy part the real problem is choosing which clone. Choosing a grapevine clone is like choosing a rose bush, you know you want a red rose, but what size of flower, when do you want the flower to bloom and do you want it to have a fragrance? The same decisions face the vineyard owner.
That is the problem that I faced, when I had just started my course, in October 2010 when I ordered our first set of vines. What clones to choose? I knew I wanted to plant Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and Pinot Meunier for sparkling wine and I’d taken a rash decision to plant out some Riesling for still wine, principally because I like it and I believed that it would do very well at Rathfinny.
I had already worked out what rootstock to use, that was a relatively easy decision. It had to be Fercal or 41B because these rootstocks have a high tolerance of alkaline soils ie chalk, which we are on. As we have a little more topsoil than some, we could use Fercal instead of 41B, as it is deeper rooting. In addition, Fercal promotes early ripening. All of that I could work out in Plumpton College library. What I could not get enough information about was the difference between the various clones of the chosen varieties.
In other parts of the world what your granddaddy planted, and what your neighbour planted and found to work, is what is planted. In the UK we are still pioneering, we have no history to our vineyards. What little we have over the last thirty years was ruined slightly by planting rather obscure German varieties. Some have done well, like Bacchus, others have not and in some instances make very interesting tasting wine! With the improving climate I was confident that we could ripen classic grape varieties but needed all the help we could from choosing the correct clones. Unfortunately, all the consultants told me different things so I had to do my own research.
Like most vineyard owners we are looking for really good quality fruit with good aromas and flavours, fruit with a good balance of sugar levels and acidity, and in the UK you need clones that ripen early. I also believed that you needed to find clones that produce open clusters (space in between the berries). Having spent a few weeks picking fruit at Plumpton College during a warm but wet September you see the effect of damp on ripe grapes! You get horrendous grey rot, and not the noble good stuff. So I wanted open clusters, which would enable preventative sprays to get into the cluster or bunches, but also allow the fruit to dry out after rain to reduce the risk of botrytis rot.
This is what I chose and we have planted in 2012:
Chardonnay clones planted are 75 & 76 (both Dijon clones and they are in many ways very similar) and 95, which is one of the most widely planted Champagne clones; it is a higher yielding clone. Lastly, 809, which was originally isolated at the University of Dijon in Burgundy. This relatively new clone is known for its intense floral/tropical nose and rich mouth feel and it is often described as having Muscat-like overtones.
Pinot Noir Clones Planted
GM 1-47 – Is one of the most popular open cluster clones planted in Germany. It produces wonderful fruit and a medium yield. GM 20-13 – This clone produces smaller berries and so is lower yielding but has great fruit and open clusters. GM 2-6 – Is a higher yielding Pinot Noir clone, however, it also produces more open clusters. A2107 – This clone also produces open clusters. Is it a medium yielding clone.
The Pinot Meunier clones planted – We36 – Meunier clone that produces modest yields and We292, a lower yielding clone. Both of these are open cluster clones reducing botrytis risk.
The Riesling clones planted – GM 198-25 – A classic Riesling clone with more open clusters, great fruit and lower yields and acidity. GM 239-20 claims to be a more aromatic clone producing both the typical Riesling terpenes such as linalool, nerol and geraniol, which produce the rose scents and considerable amounts of a-terpineol and beta-terpineol, which is more lily of the valley and citronellol (lemon and geranium). It is a more complex clone producing medium yields.
A lot of this information was gleaned from winegrowers websites, the Kimmig and Co, nursery we dealt with in Germany and Traubenshow (a German viticulture website), you need Google translate with this one!
Next year we have chosen to plant some more of the same clones as well as some other Geisenheim (GM clones) and no they are not genetically modified. Geisenheim is a research university who have worked hard to breed clones with specific characteristics, like open clusters. We are also trying some other French Pinot Noir clones and Chardonnay clones from Burgundy. One of which is spectacular and produces some of the most beautiful fruit we have tasted, the French didn’t want to sell it to us, it’s that good! More on that next year!
So by the end of 2013 we will have worked out what really works at Rathfinny. Then we can plant out more of the same on the remaining 120 hectares (300 acres).
