On Fri, 14 May 2004 11:02:48 +0100, David Rance said:

] On Thu, 13 May 2004, Emery Davis wrote:
]
] ] No, it's to do with the concentration of the juice.
] ]
]
] That's right of course: stressed vines produce smaller grapes with more
] sugar content. Same as with old vines, which is why the INAO (governs
] french AOCs) doesn't allow very young wines in most appellations.
]
] However in many climates, e.g. California or Oz, watering is required to
] produce fruit. It's just too hot, otherwise.
]
] Normally watering is not required for an established vine because it
] sends its roots as deep and wide as it needs in order to find moisture.
] But I have no experience of vines in California or Oz. :-)
]

Yes, that's true enough. My post was a bit sloppy. Can't remember the
exact figure off the top, but I think the roots can go down 6 m with no problem.
(Or is it 20? anyway, a bit of a dig!) I should have written: sufficient fruit to
be commercially viable. In CA and Oz, it is common to use fairly young vines
(in the former they are routinely replaced at 20 years) and irrigate for maximum
yield; then the juice is concentrated via reverse osmosis, and brewed with oak tea-bags.
This all yields a predictable enough result (aside from the headache) at the local Tesco.

Still, some irrigation is required in the hot climates to produce enough fruit to
bother at all.

Just read that growers in Champagne are buying land in the South Downs for
vineyards. Apparently it is similar to Champagne (the region) and the cost is
about 1%.

-E


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Emery Davis
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