Vineyard management support.
our viticulture service is driven by twenty years of experience applying alternative methods. our approach aims to provide landowners and winegrowers with the support they want to grow great wine. in brief the near twenty years of wine growing began after studying organic growing in Christchurch, a friends introduction encouraged Jared to go support the planting of a Cornish point vineyard in Central Otago, this experience set off a dream introduction to growing pinot noir which lead Jared to burn cottage vineyard where he spent a little over ten years managing the establishment of this model biodynamic vineyard. since moving home to Christchurch Jared has enjoyed expanding his viticultural experience by working with various vineyards in North Canterbury, Central Otago and Marlborough.
jaredjconnolly@gmail.com
our viticulture service is driven by twenty years of experience applying alternative methods. our approach aims to provide landowners and winegrowers with the support they want to grow great wine. in brief the near twenty years of wine growing began after studying organic growing in Christchurch, a friends introduction encouraged Jared to go support the planting of a Cornish point vineyard in Central Otago, this experience set off a dream introduction to growing pinot noir which lead Jared to burn cottage vineyard where he spent a little over ten years managing the establishment of this model biodynamic vineyard. since moving home to Christchurch Jared has enjoyed expanding his viticultural experience by working with various vineyards in North Canterbury, Central Otago and Marlborough.
jaredjconnolly@gmail.com
our own passion project we like to call a vine garden. somewhere we can put all those ideal concepts to the test. concepts which might not make sense in the industrial wine world.
diversity in our vine garden is created via cover cropping. plant species selected to balance and enhance all aspects of biological life in the vine garden.
the vine garden is a blend of chardonnay, gamay and pinot noir all planted at 1m spacings. our current aim is grow and establish enough vines to produce a few barrels each season once mature.
the vine garden will evolve into the vine gardens this spring. we are blessed with the ability to plant small vine garden parcels into ideal soil sites on a wonderful piece of omihi, North Canterbury.
I love to build and improve soils. cover crops are the first step. they are so worth the investment in specialty machinery.
autumn cover crops are especially effective during vineyard establishment. while you build the soil you also get to decide which species grow among your vines.
ideally your cover crops getting a little established prior to winter setting in and soils temperature dropping below 8c
as spring settles in and your soils warm these cover crops kick into action. ideally these will then be incorporated into the soil or mown before last frost risk risers.
don't be concerned about your summer cover crops. the fact you are improving your soil life, introducing new species and changing soil structure will encourage plant to grow and protect your soils as they dry out.
once you have achieve the balance your searching for active cover cropping can obviously take a back and you can give your soils a rest from all this activity. hopefully for four years before you start it all over again.
your cover cropping should in my view be consider as a massive weed management advantage. all cultivation efforts regardless of inter row or under vine should be considered as a weeding improvement. making life on the grubber that little bit easier.
when cultivating under vine i aim mound to create a soil mulch which is compost like in its nature. protecting the soil surface and encouraging soil life from above.
post covid-19 I aim to continue to build as a viticulturist. spending time amongst our vine garden establishing young vines.
I am also searching for a new restoration vineyard. just the kind of project I have really enjoyed since 2015. supporting a vineyards new beginning. it might need to recover from neglect, it might be covered in disease or not producing the expected yields. i thrive from these challenges and i love fixing vineyards.
for over 10 years I managed the development of these vineyards for burn cottage.
when i first started as a contractor, i really enjoyed a small stint running around a braun weeder at greystone / muddy water.
over a couple of growing seasons I had the privilege of providing consultancy to the leadership team at seresin estate.
I most recently helped manage the 2020 vintage for the black estate family.
from 2015 until 2019 I developed the Luna vineyard in Bannockburn.