Nitida Now Mostly Under IrrigationGone are the days when we boasted about being dryland farmers - irrigation is the name of the game now. 13 1/2 out of our 17 hectares is now under irrigation. We can’t afford to play hit and miss with the rain any more especially when it looks like miss is the order of the day when we need it most –during early ripening in December and January. Irrigating the vines means you can take the grapes to full maturity in each season without them having to go through periods of massive stress during dry years, which adversely effects quality in subsequent years (especially in sauvignon blanc and merlot).
Each cultivar needs to be dealt with sensitively and specifically, as too much moisture in the soil can have as much of an adverse effect as too little. To facilitate this, we monitor soil moistures on a weekly basis and to help us implement relevant irrigation programmes. |
