Day 1 of a Jamaica North Coast birthday bash

Walking through the Arrival and Departure halls at Montego Bay's (Jamaica) Sangster International Airport, one is treated to the sight of throngs of tourists either flushed with anticipation (arrivals) or looks of dread (no pun intended; reluctant "departers"). But one does not encounter anywhere near these numbers of tourists in the towns and villages that dot the country's enthralling, fun-delivering North Coast. Why? They are "imprisoned" behind the walls of the all-inclusive hotels, having a great time, I am sure, but a "time" that could have been even better if it had been adequately spiced with the appropriate amounts of unmanaged, free-form island flavor. We went down to the North Coast last weekend to celebrate  a friend's birthday and I share some of that local flavor in this post.

Attendees at the birthday bash converged on the North Coast from New York, Orlando, Cayman Islands, and Kingston and Ocho Rios in Jamaica. The Orlando contingent (four of us) took a JetBlue flight from MCO and de-planed at Sangster in a little over 90 minutes. Depending on time of arrival, and congruency with European flight arrivals, getting through Jamaican immigration and Customs can be a bear (timewise) but, on this occassion, we waltzed through officialdom and out to the pickup area in less than 1 hour. Our practice is to have a Beef Patty and Red Stripe beer at the Snack Shop just outside the exit from the Arrival Hall but Paul's (our host for the weekend) brother was already waiting so we loaded up and headed out.

From Montego Bay we headed east along the North Coast Highway towards our final destination in Priory. But a trip from the airport would be incomplete without a stop at a roadside Jerk Center, the Jamaican equivalent of a highway rest stop. At these centers you can dine on local delicacies (Jerk everything, Oxtail, fish, Curried goat, shrimp, soups, etc.), drink the ever-present Red Stripe beer (plus other beers and alcohol), and take advantage of the bathroom facilities. Our new favorite Jerk Center is Ultimate, located in the town of Discovery Bay. It is safe, with great food and a wide array of beverages, clean facilities, excellent service and frequented by friendly locals and the occasional small tourist bus. We bought platters of Jerk Chicken, Jerk Pork, Bami (cassava flatbread), and Festival (corn bread fritters) and chased them with Red Stripe and Grey Goose Vodka. The party was underway.

After the "snack" and drinks at Ultimate, we traveled to Paul's home in Priory to welcome friends, chat, drink some more, and prepare for the evening ahead.

At around 10:00 pm, we headed out to Ocho Rios, one of the top North Coast towns. On our prior trip to Jamaica, we had discovered a cute restaurant/bar/nightclub named Mongoose and we were headed there to see if it would live up to the memories. My wife and I had contracted with a promoter for a live variety show as a surprise for Joy (the birthday celebrant), said show to be performed at the club.

The club was not as busy as on our prior visit (a Saturday night) and most of the patrons present were occupying outside seating. A beautiful long table had been set up on the inside for our party so we sat, ordered drinks, and listened to the DJ while waiting for our show to begin.

And what a show it turned out to be. Folk dancers, fire-eaters, balancing acts, limbo dancers, broken-bottle repulsers, and a local Reggae artiste. And all this for Joy. And the other patrons who now streamed inside. And for the passers-by, who occupied every vantage point with a view into the space.

But a great time was had by all. Joy was ecstatic. At the conclusion of the show we turned to dancing and cajoled, bribed, and begged the DJ to play until the wee hours of the morn. We left the club at 4:00 am. First day in the history file.

©Wine -- Mise en abyme

Book Review -- Shadows in the Vineyard: The True Story of the Plot to Poison the World's Greatest Wine

The over-reach on this book begins with the subtitle. There never was a plot to poison the world's greatest wine. Rather, there was a plot (foiled) to extort money from Domaine Romanée Conti (DRC) by threatening to poison a portion of its Romanée-Conti vineyard. But maybe I am being too picky. Let's move on.

I have had wines like this book before and the term generally used to describe them is "did not deliver," precis for "great nose, did not deliver on the palate." This book has mesmerizing cover art and a "come hither" title for wine and crime buffs alike but falls far short in the fulfillment arena. As a matter of fact, this book leaves itself open to accusations of "false advertising" or "baiting and switching." It could have (should have?) been more appropriately titled: (i) An ode to Aubert de Villaine; or (ii) The Life and Times of Aubert de Villaine; or (iii) The History of Burgundy. But definitely not the title and subtitle under which it went to market.

The book purports to tell the story of the plot to poison the DRC Romanée-Conti vineyard (based on the intent rather than the subtitle) but there is no there there. Of the 274 pages of text directed at the reader, approximately 43 pages have anything at all to do with the story on offer. And those pages are distributed like oases in the desert across the full span of the book:

• Chapter 2: pp 21 - 34
• Chapter 9: pp 129 - 139
• Chapter 11: pp 167 - 170; 178 - 183
• Chapter 13: pp 197 - 198
• Chapter 16: pp 237 - 246; 253 - 258.

The book falls victim to the disease of trying to extend an article into a book. The author apparently wrote an article for Vanity Fair on the topic post its occurrence and then someone had the bright idea to further capitalize on the buzz by writing a book about it. But the story did not merit a book. It was too simple. A small-time crook devised a plan to extort money from DRC. DRC reported it to the police. The police set up a sting and caught the guy who had enlisted his ne'er-do-well son to assist him in tagging the vines in the vineyard. The crook hung himself in his prison cell before trial. There. That's it.

The remainder is a classic example of Lee-Daniels-The-Butler Syndrome: let's pack everything about the broader topic (in this case Burgundy) into the pages regardless of its bearing on the core story. Chapter 1 is a paen to Aubert de Villaine (He probably was too embarrassed to complete that gooey, cloying, obsequious mess); Chapter 3, a look back into the life and times of the Prince de Conti in the 1755 timeframe; Chapter 4, young Aubert and his grandfather; and so on and so on. And the presentation of this extraneous material did not even conform to some sort of organized plan. There was a lot of unceremonious jumping back and forth between periods and people and between perspectives and storytellers. There probably was some good stuff somewhere in there but I could not get over the feeling of being conned long enough to discover/enjoy it.

Two passages in the book, in the author's own words, are indictments against the concept of a book on this topic. The first was the quote that the crime was "far less nefarious than anyone had ever imagined" and the second was the statement that upon conclusion of the effort, the detectives involved in the case felt "full of emptiness." Not elation, emptiness. The same feeling that I had upon completion of this book.

I read this book. You don't have to.

©Wine -- Mise en abyme

Jacques hits a homer

Jacques has finally hit a home run. As a matter of fact, a series of home runs. You will remember Jacques as my friend from the Hamptons who comes down from on high every two years or so to teach us Boonesville residents what "real" wine drinking is all about. You will also remember that his prior campaigns have been more Napoleon-at-Waterloo than Alexander-at-Issus. His first foray ran hard aground on the rocks of TCA while his second sunk into the depths of faded glory.

But this guy is nothing if not persistent and, right on schedule, I received an email from him detailing when he would be in the area and wondering if we could get together to share some bottles he had in tow. I quickly agreed to set up a dinner because, his wines notwithstanding, he is a fun and wine-knowledgeable guy and I like spending time with him. Plus, the wines he mentioned in the email sounded promising. The dinner was set for Eddie V's, one of Orlando's landmark dining spots, on Friday, January 9th. I invited Ron and Bev to join us for the evening.

We were the first to arrive and that gave us time to ice down a bottle of Jacques Selosse Initial such that it would be ready for consumption when the others arrived. Ron and Bev arrived next. Hugs and kisses all around. We had not seen each other since New Year's Eve. The Selosse was cracked open and we began doing what we do best. We have never met a Selosse that we did not like. And this one was no exception. Bright acidity, sour golden apple, and bread. Like pulling on an old robe.

Jacques and Allison showed up around this time with Jacques lugging a cardboard box under one arm and a wooden box under the other. We tried doing the greeting thing all around but the boxes kept getting in the way. Finally he deposited the cardboard box onto the floor and handed the wooden box to me. "I brought this for you," he said. I accepted the box (it had the size and appearance of a magnum container) and placed it on top of my wine bag. By this time the waiter had poured Champagne for Jacques and Allison and we all clinked gleefully and drank.

After his initial taste of the Champagne, Jacques turned to me and asked that I open the box that he had brought for me. Upon its opening, the box revealed a 1973 Bollinger Champagne which had been shipped in 1981 to celebrate the wedding of Prince Charles and Lady Diana. I thought this a very nice gift and placed it gently back into its container. Nice, thoughtful start Jacques. Disarming.

The first still wine that we tasted was a 2008 Drouhin Montrachet. I had brought this wine to four previous events and had taken it back home because we had not gotten around to it. I was not going to be denied this time. This one was first out of the gate. It had a rich, oily nose with notes of walnut and unthreshed rice. Great texture with lemony-lime flavors and lime rind. Fresh and balanced with a nice long finish. A hint of tannins. Jacques thought that it was reminiscent of the 2004 vintage. This paired well with the yellow tail sashimi with the robustness of the wine complementing the light soy sauce that accompanied the fish.

Our Burgundy flight was the flight of the tattered labels but the bottle contents were stellar. The 1971 Confuron Bonnes Mares was contributed by Ron while Jacques offered the 1980 Clerget Chambolle-Musigny. And they were both home runs. The Bonnes Mares exhibited ripe Pinot fruit, tobacco, and dried wort. Earthy cherry, mushrooms, and a savory character. Fresh, with a late-arriving spiciness. The earthiness of the wine provided an awesome pairing with our potstickers. The Chambolle was elegant on the nose but, initially, had a less-than-round mouthfeel and short finish. Classic Pinot fruit. Fresh and lively on the attack. Savory with dry tamarind. With more extended residence in the glass the dry tamarind flavor became lusher, the mouthfeel began to flesh out, and the finish lengthened. Pomegranate seed note on the finish.

Our next three wines were Barolos: a 2000 Monfortino that I brought and a 1989 Fontanafredda Vigna La Delizia and 1971 Prunotto brought by Jacques. The Conterno was young with plum, tar, earth, tobacco, and vanilla. Freshness, savoryness, and a long, tannic finish. Fifteen years on this wine is still a baby. Two of the greatest Barolo vintages in the '80s were 1988 and 1989 and Vigna La Delizia is one of Fontanafredda's most prestigious crus. This bottle represented both the vintage and the cru exceedingly well with tobacco, balsamic, and truffle notes accompanying elegant tannins. The Prunotto had road tar and a nuttiness on the nose and was sharp, rich, and balanced on the palate. Lengthy finish.  Two more homers for Jacques.

He was now on a roll. We had to restrain him because he kept popping in to that bottomless cardboard box and coming out with gem after gem. He was giddy with joy. In order to give him a chance to recover his composure, Ron opened a 1998 Rayas, a 2000 Soldera Riserva, and a 1961 Ausonne. Rayas continues to be the flagship of CdP from our perspective. This wine had lifted aromatics with a Pinot-like nose. Sapodilla and kiwi fruit, blackpepper and tobacco. Ron felt that the Soldera was more open and less structured than the 95 vintage which he had had recently. He saw this wine as having clean ripe cherry and strawberry fruits with tea leaf, tobacco, and spice notes. Burgundian. Silky and elegant on the finish. The Ausone (Ron's notes) had a nose of red fruits, plum, cedar, sweet tobacco, and graphite. This was drinking well at 54 years of age, showing the classic and elegant character of the label and vintage.

Jacques quickly brushed these wines off the table and re-asserted himself. He had been waiting for this day for 6 years and he was not going to let anything, anybody, or anyother wine get in his way. He had decanted a mag of 2000 Quinault L'Enclos and he waved imperiously towards the waiter to have it brought over. Given our preference for older Bordeauxs we were a little apprehensive about this wine (It was paired with our New York Strip course) but Jacques could not be contained. This was truly his night. The L'Enclos was a phenomenal closer. Tobacco, anise, blackberries, and chocolate on the nose with herbs, leather, and great acidity on the palate, closing with a long, intense finish.

By this time all of the patrons in the restaurant had long gone. As had most of the staff. A beaming, bright-eyed Jacques did not want to leave the arena. This was vindication for him. This was what he had been coming here for years to accomplish. He was not going to let loose of this moment quickly. If at all. The few remaining staffers were trying to shepherd us towards the door but Jacques was having none of it. "Have these kids never heard of basking," the look on his face seemed to say. Triumph. Triumphant. Oh well. I guess I'll have to live with it.


©Wine -- Mise en abyme

Tavel AOC (Southern Rhone): Terroir, wine production, wines

The wine producers of Tavel have no reservations as to which is the premier Rosé producing region in France.

And while that sentiment is not universally shared, it is widely acknowledged that Tavel stands alone as a Rosé-only AOC and is, without a doubt, the most famous wine of that style in the land. I traveled with a group of fellow bloggers to Tavel and Chateauneuf-du-Pape on a DWCC2014 Pre-Conference Press trip and continue my observations herein with a report on the region's non-soil terroir components, winemaking, and wines. The region's soils were covered in a previous post.

Location
The vineyards of Tavel AOC are located 15 km NW of the Avignon mainly in the municipality of Tavel with a small portion in the town of Roquemaure, both in the departèmant of Gard.

Source: technoresto.org

The vineyard was originally planted by the Greeks, extended by the Romans, and, until the French Revolution, maintained by churches and Abbeys. The vineyard reached a peak of 800 ha in 1868 but was devastated by Phylloxera shortly after and did not attain that size again until 1977.

In 1936, Tavel became one of the first winemaking regions (the others being Arbois, Chateauneuf-du-Pape, and Cassis) in France to be granted AOC status.

Climate
Tavel's climate is Mediterranean-influenced with hot, dry summers (average temperatures of 22 ℃) and 2700 hours of sunshine per year. Summer and winter (average temperature 7.3 ℃) alike are moderated by two strong north-to-south winds called Mistral and Tramontane. The Mistral is called La Bise at the beginning of its journey down through the Rhone Valley where, upon reaching Provence, it lays claim to its more notorious nomenclature. The Mistral blows for approximately 158 days per year with 100 of those days experiencing winds of 60+ kph. Both the Mistral and Tramontane clear the atmosphere and dry out the leaves and grape bunches after summer storms.

Average annual rainfall is 700 mm with an average of 201 mm in the summer and 503 mm for the remainder of the year. While this amount of rainfall may be sufficient in other wine regions, the free-draining soils that are a characteristic of Tavel ensures that the soil moisture will flow rapidly to the underlying clay layers or into the cracks in the limestone bedrock. In order to gain access to these potential water sources, the vine roots will have to dive deep.

Soils
Treated previously

Vineyards
Vines are planted on one of the the three soil types described previously with a maximum planting density of 4000 vines/ha and space between vines of >2.25 meters. The dominant training systems are the older Gobelet and the newer Royat Cordon. Gobelet is used for untrained vines and provide the advantages of (i) better resistance to wind and drought and (ii) less sensitivity to wood disease. The disadvantage is less exposure of the leaves to the sun's rays. Royat Cordon is used for wire-trained vines and has the primary advantage of increasing the amount of the canopy exposed to the sun's rays with the resultant increase in color, tannin, sugar, aromas, and berry sanitary conditions. Gobelet systems are restricted to a maximum of 2 buds/spur and the Spurred Cordon to a maximum of 6 spurs/vine and two buds per spur.

In the cases where a vineyard is moving from a Gobelet to Royat Cordon system, it is allowed two years to make the transition. During the transition period, the Double Guyot training system is allowed.

Varieties
Tavel wines are blends and the allowed grape varieties are divided into two classes: main and accessory (http://agriculture.gouv.fr/IMG/pdf/AOC_SOMM47-2.pdf): The main varieties are (in alphabetical order) Bourboulenc, Cinsault, Clairette, Grenache, Mourvèdre, Picpoul, and Syrah. The accessory varieties are Calitor and Carignan. The deployment of these varieties into the blend are curtailed as follows:

• The proportion of all Grenache should be greater than 30%, but less than 60%, of the blend
• The proportion of each main grape variety should be less than or equal to 60% of the blend
• The proportion of each accessory variety should be less than or equal to 10% of the blend.

The contribution of each variety to the finished wine is indicated in the table below.

Variety Contribution to Tavel Wines

Cultivar	Contribution
Syrah	Powerful aroma of red fruits
Mourvèdre	Color and aromatics; freshness; structure; ageability
Cinsault	Aromatic elegance
Clairette	Unctuousness and depth; flowery aromas; spiced notes of dried fruits
Grenache	Balance and strength
Bourboulenc	Fresh flowery tones
Carignan	Tannin, color, and fruit; elegance; structure; hint of bitterness
Picpoul	Finesse; flowery flavors
Calitor	Extremely rare

Sources: vin-tavel.com; Rolf Bichsel, Tavel: The People and the Wines, Féret, 2011

Vineyard Management Practices
Tavel wine production is split between the Cooperative (45%) and 34 private producers each of whom, on average, controls 15 ha of land. According to Kelly McAuliffe, a US-born Sommelier who provided technical leadership on behalf of the Tavel Vintners Association, the region's growers are moving rapidly away from vanilla viticultural science and towards management practices such as organic, biodynamic, and integrated vineyard management. The table below provides a composite of the vineyard management practices of a number of the wineries we visited plus those whose wines I had tasted as a part of a Guild of Sommeliers Tavel-CdP tasting I had attended in Miami earlier in the year

Period	Cultural Practice	Action
Fall - Winter	Pruning
	Fertilization	Add small quantities, when needed, of Potassium, Magnesium, and Nitrogen
		Reconstitute hummus by grinding pruned vine branches and working into soil with cut leaves
		Add natural compost
Spring through Harvest	Grass Control	Tilling and hoeing
		Chemical weed killers (less and less annually)
	Grape Moth Control	Use of pheromones to make it difficult for male moths to find partners
	Downy/Powdery Mildew Control	Copper or sulfur spray
May	Shoot Thinning	Remove shoots to aid air flow
July	Green Harvest	Drop fruit in order to focus vine’s resource production and allocation
	Leaf Culling	Pull leaves in order to improve micro-climate
	Irrigation	If survival of plot at stake
September	Pre-Harvest	Remove damaged or less-ripe bunches that could affect overall quality

Wine Making Process
A composite of the Tavel winemaking process is illustrated in the figure below.

Wines
After tasting selected Tavel wines at the Guildsomm tasting and on the DWCC Press trip, I can characterize them as follows:

• Variable in color with hues from salmon to deep strawberry
• Possessing higher extract than any Rosé I had tasted previously
• Higher levels of alcohol than Rosés I had tasted previously
• Redolent of ripe strawberry and raspberry fruit
• Possessing moderate acidity
• On the palate, intensity, power, spiciness, and in, many cases, a vinosity that is not characteristic of Rosé wines that I have previously experienced.

In the near future I will attempt to compare the Tavel Rosés to those of Provence.


©Wine -- Mise en abyme

The soils of Tavel AOC (Southern Rhone), the Rosé wine region

Tavel, illustrated by the red oval in the map below, is at once the solitary Rosé-only AOC in the French appellation system and (maybe because of that fact) the country's most famous Rosé. I visited the region as part of a DWCC2014 Pre-Conference Press Trip in October and will be sharing my experiences beginning with this post's discussion of the soils of the region.

Source: technoresto.org

The Tavel AOC encompasses the vineyards in the communes of Tavel and Roquemaure, with said vineyards planted on one of three distinct soil types: sandy, Lauses, or smooth pebbles.

Sandy Soils
The lowest part of the macro-vineyard is located on sandy soils dating from the Miocene and Pliocene eras (Jacques Fanet, Great Wine Terroirs, UCP, 2004). The sea, which had covered the region during the Cretaceous period, returned during the Miocene and Pliocene periods leaving thin deposits of clay and sands at the bottom of the slope (James Wilson, Terroirs, 1998; musee-boissons.com). The ancient Tavel vineyards were located on these sands which possess the following characteristics (Rolf Bichsel, Tavel: The People and the Wines, Feret, 2011):

• Poor in organic matter
• Visible portions consist of yellow, acid, decarbonated coarse sand and pebbles from the surrounding Villafranchian terraces
• Clay at 30-cm depth
• Bedrock (compressed Pliocene sands and non-decarbonated limestone sands) at 60-cm depth.

According to Bichsel, grapes grown in this soil produce wines with the lowest alcohol and highest yield of the three soil types and possess a strong aroma.

Lauses
This type is comprised of shallow soil covered with stone tiles mixed with red clay on a limestone bedrock. Heavy machinery is used to break up the top layer (60% limestone rocks). At 30-cm depth, 90% of the soil consists of rocky debris and marly limestone supplemented by a few pockets of clay. Bedrock begins at 60 cm and is comprised of solid limestone with slight cracking.

This area is 300 ha in size and is the hardest of the Tavel soils to cultivate. It is the most arid and poorest with the paucity of surface or near-surface water and nutrients driving the vines to create deep and extensive root systems (Bichsel).

Grapes grown on this soil produce wines that have (Bichsel):

• High minerality
• Finesse
• Low yields
• Fruity aromas.

Smooth Pebbles
Throughut our visit to Tavel and Chateauneuf-du-Pape, the team had recurring discussions as to the proper nomenclature for the polished stones synonymous with this region. Many members of the team, especially the American bloggers, could not bridge the gap between the images conjured up in their minds by the word pebble and the actual size of these stones.

According to musee-boissons.com, in the Villafranchian period (1.9 to 1.8 million years ago), powerful rivers with immense force were generated by the melting glaciers and pushed the rocks in their path for hundreds of kilometers, polishing them along the way until they became the smooth pebbles found in Tavel, Lirac, and Chateauneuf-du-Pape today. In Tavel, these pebbles are found in an area of the vineyard called Vallongue, an integral part of the Villafranchian terraces that stretch from Chateauneuf-du-Pape to Nimes (Bichsel).

Seventy-five percent of the subject soil consists of these large, rounded pebbles which can range in size from 10 to 40 cm in diameter. The pebbles are, generally (Bichsel):

• Smooth and silky
• Reddish and ochre in color
• Mixed with whole blocks of stone and quartz sands
• Range in depth from 5 and 15 meters
• Flanked, intermixed, or covered with more recent strata of alluvial soil.

The most striking characteristics of this soil type are (i) the accumulation of heat during the day and its release at night (an aid in grape ripening) and (ii) its excellent drainage which, in turn, forces the vines to develop deep, extensive root systems.

Wines made from grapes grown in this soil are powerful and vinous, exhibiting great body, alcoholic strength, and structure (Bichsel).

Further posts in this series will detail the remaining terroir aspects of Tavel AOC as well as its viticulture and viniculture before switching to a similar treatment of the Chateauneuf-du-Pape AOC.

©Wine -- Mise en abyme

Cultivar, Rootstocks, and Trellis Blocks of the W-MEA Viticultural Model

I began the "fleshing out" of the Wine -- Mise en abyme (W-MES) Viticultural Model with an elaboration of the Site Complex and a comparison of the best practices elements to the Masseto site conditions. In this post I continue this "fleshing out" by detailing the elements of the Vineyard Establishment Complex (identified below within the red oval). As before, I will attempt to identify best practices and compare them against the Masseto conditions where data are available.

Variety
A number of factors are considered in selecting the variety (or varieties) to be planted: (i) experience of other vineyards in the area; (ii) the quality of the variety; (iii) the speed at which it completes its annual reproductive and vegetative cycles and how do those cycles match to the climate of the region; (iv) the yield potential; (v) adaptation to climate; (vi) adaptation to soil conditions; (vii) its resistance to disease; and (viii) the varieties that are allowed by existing legislation (in an area where that is a concern).

The climate of a grape-growing region will determine, to a large extent -- and all things being equal -- both the grape varieties that can be grown and the styles of wine that can be produced. The climatic requirements for successful viticulture include: a growing season long enough to mature both the fruit and vegetative aspects of the plant; production of sufficient carbohydrates to ripen the fruit as well as to maintain future productive potential; and an adequate supply of water.

The common wisdom holds that varieties produce at their best when grown at the coolest margins of viable ripening. Grapevines are selected either through mass or clonal selection and cuttings are grafted onto rootstocks based on the attributes required.

Rootstock
Most of the world's quality wines are based on vitis vinifera, a species which, when grown on its own roots, will succumb to attacks from phylloxera and parasitic nematodes. This problem has been solved by grafting the vitis scion onto phylloxera- and nematode-resistant rootstock.

Vine vigor and soil capacity are additional important inputs into the rootstock-choice decision. Varieties with large canopies (high-vigor varieties) can become less fruitful over time (thus reducing the capacity of the vine) due to reduced cluster number and size. Dr. Andy Walker of UC Davis defines vine capacity as "the ability to grow and produce foliage, roots, and fruit and to establish a trunk." According to Dokoozlian and Kliewer (AJEV 46, 1995, pp. 209-218), vigor is used to describe the growth capacity of grapevines, with those having "large dense canopies and low sunlight exposure ..." being referred to as high-vigor vines. Dense canopies can be detrimental to vine yield in that (i) the plant is deploying its resources in "unproductive" areas and (ii) they reduce the amount of light getting to internal leaves. And human activity (with the related costs) is required to reduce this physical manifestation of vine vigor and re-direct the vine's resources to more productive use.

Soil capacity is a function of the water-holding capacity and mineral wealth of the soil. Vine capacity, on the other hand, is the soil capacity plus the levels of carbohydrates stored in the vine trunk and cordons. Growers seek to blunt the upside of vine capacity by employing low-vigor rootstocks but, in most cases, capacity will trump vigor.

Rootstock(s) utilized in the vineyard environment should be (http://iv.ucdavis.edu/files/24347.pdf):

• Resistant to present and potential soil pests
• Suitable for the soil’s texture, depth, and fertility
• Compatible with soil chemistry (pH, salinity, lime content)
• Favored for the anticipated soil water availability, drainage, and irrigation practice
• Appropriate for the vineyard design
• Appropriate for the fruiting variety’s growth and fruiting characteristics.

Trellis
The rationale behind vine training systems is (i) an understanding that increasing the exposed leaf area improves fruit quality, (ii) that exposure of leaf area can be manipulated by training, and (iii) training alters the microclimate of the canopy. The amount of leaf area that can be exposed to the sun is a major consideration in the choice of a training system. It is affected by (Reynolds, Andrew G., and Justine E. Vanden Heuvel, Influence of Grapevine Training Systems on Vine Growth and Fruit Composition: A Review, Am. J. Enol. Vitic. 60(3), 2009, p251):

• The disposition of the bearing units
• the Trellis height
• The associated type of training.

Growth, yield, and quality are directly proportional to the ratio of exposed leaf area to fruit weight with a range of 7 - 14 cm² total leaf area/gram of fruit required to achieve full fruit maturity. The higher end of the range should be pursued in colder climates in order to ensure that the vine can complete its important physiological functions (Reynolds and Vanden Heuvel).

The trellis serves as the framework within which the vines are trained and supported and must (Paul Domoto, Constructing a Vineyard Trellis, Presentation, Iowa Grape Growers Conference, 2002):

• Be strong enough to support large crops and withstand high winds
• Last for 20 or more years with routine maintenance.

One of the most important considerations in trellis selection is the size of the canopy that it will be supporting. The vines growth potential has to be taken into consideration in order to ensure that it will bear the weight of the vine at maximum vegetative growth. The factors which drive vine growth potential are as follows (http://www.ucanr.org/sites/intvit/files/24348.pdf):

• Temperature
• Annual rainfall
• Sunlight exposure
• Winds
• Soil texture
• Vine rooting depth
• Pre-Plant soil preparation
• Cultivar
• Rootstock
• Cultural practices

Other elements that factor into the trellis decision are (Reynolds and Vanden Heuven):

• Plant and row spacing
• Row orientation
• Establishment costs
• Equipment requirements
• Desire for mechanization.

The details of the model elements for the W-MEA Model Vineyard Complex are provided in the table below. Red-colored text indicates a best-estimate.

      Masseto Vineyard Versus the W-MEA Viticultural Model -- Vineyard Complex

Block	Component	Element	Optimal Value	Masseto Position
Variety	Nomenclature		Depends	Merlot
	Climate Adaptation		High	High
	Soil Adaptation		High	High
	Local Custom		N/A	Compliant
	Variety Quality		High	High
	Yield Potential		Balanced	High
	Disease Resistance		High
	Allowed by Regulation		Compliance	Compliant
Rootstock	Nomenclature		Depends	N/A
	Soil Pest Resistance	Phylloxera	Med-High	Med-High
		Nematodes	Med-High	Med-High
	Soil Qualities Suitability	Texture	Loam, sandy loam	Clays
		Depth	Ø  3 feet	N/A
		Fertility	Low-Med	High
	Soil Chemistry Compatibility	pH	6.0-6.8	N/A; assumed high
		Salinity	Threshold 1500 μmho/cm	N/A
		Lime Content		N/A
	Water Availability	Drought Conditions	Adaptable	N/A
		Wet Soils	Adaptable	Inhibits performance
Trellis		System	Depends	Spurred Cordon
		Strength	Wind resistant; supportive of vine growth potential	Compliant
		Longevity	Ø  20 years	N/A
		Plant and Row Spacing	2.5 m between vines in Bolgheri	3 m x 0.85 m
		Row Orientation	Depends	Perpendicular to the fall line of the slope
		Set-Up Costs		N/A
		Equipment Requirements		N/A
		Mechanization Plans		N/A

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