By using organic and biodynamic principles, John and Kaye believe that they can produce their wines without resorting to the more conventional practice of using glyphosate to kill the weeds, chemical fertilisers and pest sprays.
If the term ‘Organic Farmer’ immediately conjures up a vision of a kaftan-wearing hippie, you’d better think again. Drs Kaye McAulay and John Bell aren’t anything like that stereotype. Having purchased a vineyard in the 1990’s, Kaye and John moved ‘over the hill’ from Wellington in 2002 to set up Vynfields, their boutique organic/biodynamic vineyard and to restore the historic Maranui homestead they shifted from Lyall Bay (in 5 pieces!).
By the beginning of 2006 both the vineyard and the wines had achieved full organic certification and a string of award-winning wines was being produced. Last year, their 2006 Pinot Noir won a Gold medal at the Romeo Bragato competition, the first organic wine to do so.
But more accolades were on the way. In November, Vynfields was named the Organic Producer of the Year at the Organics Aotearoa New Zealand awards ceremony. OANZ is an umbrella organisation for enterprises with organics as their core activity - this includes not only winegrowers but also fruit, vegetable, dairy and meat producers, traders and exporters.
By using organic and biodynamic principles, John and Kaye believe that they can produce their wines without resorting to the more conventional practice of using glyphosate to kill the weeds, chemical fertilisers and pest sprays. These do not differentiate between ‘good’ and ‘bad’ and tend to leave the soil depleted and the plants susceptible to further attack.
Instead, they perform regular soil analysis to identify deficiencies and make their own compost using untreated sawdust, manure, seaweed, grass clippings, the marc (pips and skins) and stalks from the winery and Bio-Dynamic preparations. The latter are themselves made from such herbs as dandelion, nettle, camomile, yarrow, oak bark and valerian plus minerals like silica and calcium. These preparations enliven the soil and replace trace elements and beneficial microbes.
Weed control is carried out by slashing the grass between the rows, hand-weeding where appropriate and, in winter, by grazing sheep amongst the vines. The canopy is sprayed with liquidised seaweed and silica which strengthen the plants and encourage fruiting. Pests and diseases in the vineyard are handled organically too. Wild flowers are planted to encourage beneficial insects, powdery mildew is treated with an approved sulphur spray (testing has indicated that the soil is deficient in sulphur anyway) and a product called BotryZen is used to ward off botrytis by inoculating the plants with a ‘friendly’ fungus.
All viticultural work is carried out by hand - from pruning through leaf-plucking, fruit thinning to harvest. In the winery hand-plunging and gravity transfer are de rigueur.
John says that all these practices result in a purer taste - the wine better reflects the terroir and variety. He regards Martinborough as a great place to have an organic vineyard because it is so dry - minimising the impact of fungal attack.
As organics have become more mainstream and customers pay more attention to where their food comes from, being organic has become a very positive point of difference in the marketplace. Top quality restaurants and hotels in New Zealand and around the world are seeking out products that are organic and sustainable. According to John, this factor was behind Vynfields’ entry into three new export markets in the last year.
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