Planning a vineyard?
Meet Jonathan Rodwell, head of vineyard establishment
Vineyard planning, planting and establishment is in safe hands with Jonathan Rodwell and his team at Vinescapes. Jonathan qualified from University College Davis, California, and has since gained over 40 years’ experience in viticulture and winemaking from all over the world – a true leader in his field.
Jonathan has a deep scientific knowledge of grapevine biology and physiology, and a detailed understanding of soil fertility. With his knowledge of all the variables and the high capital investment, Jonathan and his team establish successful and productive vineyards, able to meet the required quality and yields, business objectives and desired end products. Each client receives a bespoke vineyard creation service and dedicated project manager.
Many pre-plantings decision have permanent consequences, and mistakes can be costly. In this bulletin series Jonathan will share his wisdom on:
· Site assessment – see bulletin #1
· Site amelioration and soil preparation
· Soil analysis and nutrient adjustments
· Varieties, clones and rootstocks
· Drainage and fencing
· Vineyard planning and design, with consideration of mechanisation
Bulletin # 1
Site assessment
The first step in planning a vineyard, is to assess the land’s suitability for commercial viticulture – essential to avoid costly mistakes in the UK’s marginal climate. All potential vineyard sites start with Vinescapes’ ultra-high resolution mapping assessment – VineMAP.
VineMAP is an automated -and objective – tool developed by Vinescapes’ CEO, Dr Alistair Nesbitt. The multi-layered modelling tool is underpinned by leading viticulture and climate expertise and supported by peer reviewed and published science. VineMAP is unique due to its access to restricted climate data, it also usesstate-of-the-art geographic information software, for topography, aspect, slope angle and hill-shade models, so that prospective vineyard sites can be identified with optimum areas for planting. These consider the challenges due to the vagaries of climate and identify risks such as cold air accumulation frost pockets.
Click here for VineMAP
