TODAY - G D Rural - Spectral imaging, EM38,Moisture Probes, Telemetry 2002 - 2008 Soil coring - Mobile UMPC

For 18 months IPV has been a distributor for Sentek. In this period we have installed over 300 diviner sites and collected more than 250 core samples.

We have also seen some big improvements in product options, allowing growers big and small to enjoy the benefits obtained through soil moisture monitoring.

OPT 1 - Outsourcing

For around $500-$600 a year plus a once off setup fee of $220-$270 per site, one of many contract or service providers can provide you with weekly updates on your soil moisture monitoring.

OPT 2 - Diviner

The Diviner 2000 will allow you to monitor up to 99 sites to a depth of 160 cm (dependent on depth of access tube. Then with the aid of Irrimax 7.1 the grower can graph the results.

OPT 3 - Solo

The Solo system in conjunction with the Soloporter allows the grower the benefit of continuous soil moisture data with minimum hardware, a benefit with the increasing use of multi-row vineyard machinery.

OPT 4 - Plus

The Plus system offers almost realtime continuous monitoring. Data can be downloaded via web at any time then viewed in Irrimax software, assisting with proactive irrigation management.

For pricing and installation call us on 0404 885674

G D Rural - to IPV

In July 2006 GD Rural formed part of a new company called IPV (Integrated Precision Viticulture). This new company specializes in the adoption, collection, delivery and supply of precision viticulture products.

IPV will remain independent and will not be offering advice or consulting services to the growers. This will be done through a network of local consultants, viticulturists and advisors.

IPV will have its own website offering clients access to various PV services online; the GD Rural website will continue to provide general information.

Actual Example

stats

The block in this example represents 1 ha of shiraz in the McLaren Vale region. As you can see consistency has been improved considerably from a standard deviation (SD) of 55 in 2003 to 26 in 2005, this is an improvement of over 50%.

An American twist

Today’s information is a little Americanised, Apologies for this.

The reason is some observations I have picked up.

55% of American drinkers are female
Size is not the key to the US market "The YELLOW TAIL story"
The Wine Book: Change the Way You Think About Wine, by Matthew Jukes. Published by Headline, $39.95

On the third point - the Author of the book gave Australia the prize when it comes to "Shiraz"

"Jukes, not surprisingly, reflects the highly competitive U.K. market. He loves ("idyllic") Australia for its breadth of styles and quality of wines at the 6.99 ($15) level, as well as for its "smart fizz, terrific cabernets and increasingly elegant Pinot Noirs" and he hands the Syrah/Shiraz Old World- New World decision firmly to the Aussies."

Women are drinking wine by the gallon.

Why'd it take the industry this long to wake up to it?

By Linda Murphy

Call 2005 the year of the woman wino.
A 2005 Gallup Poll reported that women make up 52 percent of the adult population in the United States and purchase 55 percent of the wine consumed here. A July survey conducted by the Wine Market Council in St. Helena, a nonprofit association of wine producers, growers and suppliers, showed that 56 percent of U.S. wine drinkers are female.

I am woman, hear me pour.

In an industry that has applied most of its marketing muscle to men, wine collectors and those who closely scrutinize critics' ratings, many companies have woken up to the fact that women buy wine

read more..

Chile and Argentina wine industry tour November 2005
PV logo

Earlier this month I had the opportunity to join a group of Orlando growers, winemakers and affiliated people on a study tour of the wine industry in parts of South America. I will share with you some observations and views of the Chilean and Argentinean wine industries and where they sit in comparison to that of the Australian wine industry.
It may be a surprise to some people that both countries have much longer winemaking histories than Australia. The earliest production of wine in both Chile and Argentina date back to the times of the Spanish missionaries of the 16th and 17th centuries and mainly consists of wine made for church services.

We began our tour in Chile; a country that is divided up into 5 regions (similar to our states) with the main agricultural area is in the central region radiating out from the capital city of Santiago which has a population of about 6 million. Just under half of Chile’s population of 15 million lives in this main city or within its sprawl.
The main wine growing regions are Maipo Valley, Rapel Valley, Maule Valley, Curico Valley, Casablabca Valley, Apalta Valley and Leyda Valley.
Geographically Chile is a long narrow country that stretches 4000km from the driest dessert in the north bordering Peru to arctic conditions into the deep south. Along the western border is the pacific ocean that has the very cold (11C) Humboldt current running its full length and on the eastern border of Chile is the spectacular Andes. In the main wine region ripening season temperatures are typically day 30-32C and night 8-12C. Rain fall typically is 250-300mm but does vary from region to region
Soils are generally very fertile due to centuries of erosion of the Andes mountains into the river valleys where most vines are now cultivated. Soil fertility is generally seen in high vigour vines with plenty of lateral growth. It is common for vineyards to require several passes to remove shoots, laterals and later leaves and bunches, a costly exercise even with cheap labour.
Water is in abundance, of good quality, cheap and mostly delivered by channels for flood irrigation in the river valleys. There is very little drip irrigation in established vineyards but its use is increasing especially in vineyard developments on slopes. It was plainly obvious that almost no moisture monitoring or irrigation management is practiced and this showed in the vines excessive growth even at the beginning of their growing season. Water application volume varies annually between 5 to 16 mega litres per hectare in vines producing between 10 to 35 tons per hectare.
Politically and economically Chile is stable and a reasonably safe place to do business (at the moment probably the best in South America). Inflation is low along with unemployment and there is a high level of foreign investment as a result. Chile is on the move and the government and people have an attitude of willingness to learn and to change. The days of political turmoil and social struggle are behind them and economic reality is within Chiles grasp.
Chile’s labour and industrial system was a topic of interest to many of us from Australia. We look at countries like Chile and assume that because wages are cheap, and they are, they will have a significant advantage over us. But Chile seems unable to capitalize on this advantage and of the vineyards and wineries that we visited we were told that labour costs still make up 60% of all vineyard costs in Chile and therefore vineyard profit margins have similar pressures as Australia in relative terms. Productivity of individual workers appeared to be significantly less that what we expect in Australia and special allowances have to made for daily siestas, moving large numbers of people from area to area for harvest etc. and the need to provide accommodation for extended periods in reasonably isolated areas.
Vineyard labour in Chile in general is used very inefficiently from a management perspective and there are the added costs of controlling vine vigour due to fertile soils and over watering adding to the overall labour cost component.
Chile’s middle class of people is increasing steadily and wages are on the rise especially with demands from better educated young people who have good access to education and higher expectations than the previous generation. Couple this together with the appreciating Chilean Peso and we could see that the country is becoming a victim of its own success, in some ways similar to Australia, and Chile will have to continually evolve and change to remain competitive.
Chilean wine is a mixed bag. Most produced is at the cheap end of the scale but there is a push to improve quality and many producers are achieving their targets. We sampled some good wines but they were more expensive and available in only small volumes, and are therefore more difficult to market. Many of the premium wines are produced by wine families and companies that have their headquarters in Spain or France. There is a trend for international wine companies to set up vineyard and winery facilities in Chile mainly for land, water, labour and tax reasons.
The main varieties grown in order of plantings are Cabernet Sauvignon, Carmenere and Merlot. Other minor varieties include Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc and Pinot Noir. There is a significant push to promote Carmenere as the traditional Chilean wine but we tasted a large number and mostly were not overly impressed with this variety.

After driving over the Andes we visited Argentina which we found to be a totally different country both wine industry wise and culturally. The European influence was far more prevalent. Argentina has a population of about 39 million and is a large country with vast natural resources. It had one of the highest standards of living post WWII when it was the largest exporter of wheat in the world. Food (lots of beef), wine and the Tango have formed the fabric of Argentinean living. But true to form this country continues with its tradition of revolutions, social unrest and economic crisis.
Argentina is about the fifth or sixth largest wine producer world wide but most wine produced is consumed domestically (300,000Ha planted vines). There are numerous wine regions in Argentina. The regions we targeted where Mendoza and San Juan the two main neighboring wine regions. Mendoza was the largest with 160,000 hectares of planted vines. These regions are high altitude desert locations (900 - 1,400mtrs) with typical rainfalls of between 100 and 150mm per year and fairly low soil fertility. Summer time temperatures reach 40C commonly, day after day and winter time can be freezing (20C to -7C). The use of irrigation is essential and more attention is being directed to future water use though it is very slow process to change the old ways. These include rudimentary flood irrigation with little or no control over water flow or volume and a dependence on good relations with neigbours who otherwise can redirect your flow of water to their own properties. Most of the desert is still irrigated through channel and furrow irrigation and the amount of water applied annually is around 8 to 16 megalitres per hectare.
Vine health is generally good and we didn’t see the same vigour problems that occurred in Chile. As labour is still fairly cheap the higher value blocks are all shoot thinned and also bunch regulated at verasion. We came to the conclusion that it is a fine balance between adequate and over exposure of fruit considering the intense radiation from above and below especially as most soils are cultivated and at altitude radiation intensifies.
As with Chile there are few threats to grape crops, generally no bird or insect pests to speak of. Regular sprays are generally aimed at the mildews that we deal with.

Argentina’s signature grape variety is Malbec and there is lots of it. Some excellent, some good, and some pretty ordinary. Quality control and consistency lacks. This is a result of the Argentineans fairly slack and laid back approach. Don’t get me wrong the potential for a successful and buoyant wine industry is certainly there. If the Argentineans got well organized and stay motivated they will be a force to be reckoned with on the world market.
The second main variety grown in Argentina is Cabernet Sauvignon. We also tasted some whites from the regions we visited and these were typical of warmer region styles. We tried a couple of chardonnays that were outstanding but these are in limited supply and the area planted is small.
Most wine in Argentina is cheap to buy and there is lots of it as we saw in supermarkets where a wide range of alcoholic beverages are sold. Wine prices varied from 2.60 Peso through to 38.00 Peso (2.2 Peso to the Aussie dollar).
Labour and economic issues are Argentina’s greatest deterrent to the expanding wine industry. Labour laws are so restrictive that an employer has virtually no rights what so ever over employees and the social security system is very generous which can make people disinclined to work. We were shocked by what we learnt about industrial labour laws in Argentina. It is virtually impossible to sack a worker regardless of their attitude, incompetence, or lack of productivity. Retrenched workers are entitled to 2 years with full pay for every one that they are employed by someone. However farm labour is cheap ($300-400/month) but because of industrial laws workers tend to be slow and therefore fairly inefficient. OHS&W is very under developed as could be seen both in the wineries and vineyards that we visited. Very little attention is paid to the prevention of accidents or the promotion of safe work practices.

Traveling to other cultural destinations is always fulfilling. I enjoyed the trip, tried lots of different wines and foods and learnt a bit more about the global wine industry.

Food & Wine Link

eat&drink

For a comprehensive list of McLaren Vale wineries and restaurants see the following links :

Go to site

The Sea & Vines page...

McLaren Vale region page...

This Week's Business

CHM

Central Hills Machinery Traders are now in the McLaren Vale main street. I called in recently and found them to be very informative and helpful.

With a twenty year history Central Hills Machinery Traders has a large range of new and used farm machinery servicing both large and small acreages throughout rural South Australia.

Their phone no. is 08 83237714

You can check out their website go there.. please note they still need to update their new details.

News & Information for Wine Industry Professionals (CA - USA)
Go there...

........ WINE NEWS .......
GO There...

The Changing Lake

Created on 2005-06-15 09:33:24 by george
Updated on 2010-02-27 23:42:49 by george

WEATHER - Southern Vales

Current & Forecast weather information

HOT SPOTS
GO TO

WEATHER (Real Time)

.. For Australia GO There ..

Weather - Other Regions

STRATHALBYN
GO TO

NURIOOTPA
GO TO

CLARE
GO TO

LOXTON
GO TO

SOURCE:Weatherzone