While many vineyards around Marlborough will have picture-perfect rows of cut grass over summer, that won’t be the case for Lawson’s Dry Hills vineyards.
Viticulturalist Richard Hunter and winemaker Marcus Wright are accessing plant knowledge to effectively use and regenerate their vineyards through strategic wild planting between rows.
With trials ongoing for different mixes of seed – currently including oats and barley for biomass, radishes for soil structure, clover to fix nitrogen and a variety of flowers for pollinators – and for how use the included biomass to benefit the vines.
“The plan is to mulch biomass using the 75% or so of surfaces in vineyards set for rows, increasing organic matter and the amount of soil microbes and bacteria which are key to mobilising nutrients and help with water retention acting like a sponge.
“We have monocultures in vineyards, grass and vines in the ground for 20 or 30 years which is the opposite of what you would normally do in an agricultural system, where you rotate crops, so your soil doesn’t get tired.
"What we’re trying to do is grow different crops and break up that monoculture, increase the organic matter and soil carbon levels, which in turn will help increase fertility.”
While the ongoing measures this summer are part of a multi-year project aimed at vineyard health, which adds to their BCorp status producing 100% sustainable and carbon free wines. It’s also making for a unique look in their vineyards.
Richard says that trials are ongoing within their vineyard rows with both planting species and techniques to figure out, with further analysis allowing a natural replacement for fertilisers through matching soil needs to plant species.
“We can mow and throw sideways to mulch under the vine to suppress weeds and retain moisture, or crimp a crop flat, let it rot, then drill another crop through it with minimal tillage, but you’re building organic matter quickly either way.”
“People who looked after soil for the last hundred years before artificial fertilisers and chemicals weren’t daft, because rotational cropping was so important and what we want to do is improve soil health, make soils more resilient, increase organic matter, improve fertility and moisture retention.
“It’s very hard to put a financial figure on it, but if you’ve been growing things in soil for a long time, you know what bad soil looks like and what good soil looks like, and this technique improvements within a few years.”
“Our customers want us to see us improving the land and bringing biodiversity back is a big-picture thing – not overnight – but you’ve got to start somewhere to have healthier soils and hopefully increase the longevity of the vineyard.”
