Viticulture is a key factor in quality grapes. Rules about irrigation differ all over the world. Moreover, the timing of water and heat through the growth cycle determines the quality of the grapes.
During my recent visit to Bodega Carrau in Montevideo, I asked Francisco Carrau about the effects of water and heat in the vineyard.
Here is what he explained:
“Vines in Uruguay are not irrigated in the majority of the cases except for the first year of plantation. So we will have years with more or less rain that will give some vintage variations.”
“Soils were selected to prevent rainy years, such as the one where we have more sandy and deep structures in the northeast that was the first site selection selected scientifically in 1973-75. Vineyards around Montevideo since 1870 were because of logistic problems and not for site quality selection.”
“The soils with more clay and calcarius of the Montevideo vineyard retain more moisture than the sandy red soils of the north, but neither needs irrigation when you are producing limited quantities for quality grapes.”
One thing I noticed during my visit was that a special grass is used to absorb water from the soil when there is too much rain. Francisco answers the question here:
” This is a traditional management we do since the 1990s and we introduce this concepts in the CREA groups of Uruguay. Natural grasses do this job and sometimes are better than planting a unique spice. There are some studies in INIA looking for different species but combinations appear to be more balanced. In times of great heat grass helps to low the temperature if we have a very dry season. You cut the grasses very low so as to take less water out of the soil. But, also the dry seasons normally kill the grasses as they are superficial and not go so deep as the vines, so this is also good for getting the balance of dry or rainy seasons in a soil. All these managements are thinking always in low yields, because with high yields all plants are suffering excess of demand of water from the fruits.
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