Lake Chalice Wines - An Artisan Winery in Marlborough, New Zealand { News }

Lake Chalice Leans Green

Our namesake, Lake Chalice, is the only lake in the Mt Richmond Forest Park, Marlborough. It is surrounded by beautiful native forest in a pristine environment and we are endeavoring to create a similar sustainable natural environment in our vineyards to produce stunning flavours in our grapes and wines.

Prior to 2003 we followed a fairly conventional viticultural regime but that year we won a Green Ribbon Award from the Ministry of Environment, together with Fulton Hogan, for growing grapes on reclaimed quarry land (our Quarry Block), and that got Lake Chalice’s Vineyard Manager, Ged Boekholt, thinking. Since then he has been steadily introducing systems onto all our blocks, the notoriously stony Falcon Vineyard in Renwick, The Eyrie Vineyard up the Waihopai Valley and new development The Talon Vineyard in Grovetown.

Our philosophy is that it all begins in the soil, and to get a true reflection of the terroir, we need to stimulate and increase the soil microbiological activity, you know, the billion or so bacteria (per gram of dirt), that measure fungi growth; the arthropods; and an earthworm or two. These all do wonderful things like increase water holding capacity, nutrient availability and root growth.

Each year we add compost made with our own grape marc (grape pressings from the winery), local woodchips, mussel shells, seaweed and whatever material we can find. This adds essential organic matter and suppresses weeds. We recently processed 26 tonnes of seaweed, which we spread far and wide at every opportunity and are also experimenting with vermicast (worm poohs).

Compost teas are another biggy; we currently purchase commercial products, which gives us humus and all those good fungi and bacteria. This year we will build our own brewer and get the correct starters and fungi/bacteria ratio, for several applications a year.

We also try to balance the soil's mineral and nutrient requirements using organic fertilizers through annual ground spreading and regular fertigation, to ensure the plants have the correct pH level and the elements necessary for the different growth stages. This means the plants can maintain good photosynthesis and chlorophyll production to remain healthy and strong which also means they are less likely to be attacked by nature’s waste disposals, e.g.: botrytis, mildews and munching type pests, so we use far less chemicals and sprays.

Under-vine weeds are always a challenge, and in our rocky vineyards we still use Roundup buffered with fulvic acid. But we are looking at different weed eradication methods, including a mulch with high paramagnetic levels.

Our inter-row management uses mixed grass and legume. At the Talon Vineyard this year a mix of fescues, clover, plantain, buckwheat, sheeps burnett, and phacelia was planted between the rows, with mixed flower swaths on the boundaries to encourage beneficial insect activity. Over the winter months we use biological grass mowers, known in New Zealand as sheep, to control the growth and add their special droppings.

So, while we are not 100% there yet we will continue to strive to learn and improve. By picking and adopting the best from the various organic/ bio dynamic/ sustainable/ practical/ nature friendly systems we hope to produce the best tasting grapes and therefore wines, reflecting the true terroir of the Marlborough region.

- July 2008

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© 2009 Lake Chalice Wines