Two heads better than one

When Huon Valley couple Rosemary and Terry Bennett first planted vines on their Ranelagh property in 1992, the couple had little understanding of what would be needed to turn the project into one of Australia's most highly regarded Pinot Noir operations.

Its north-facing slopes and an adjacent parcel of flat land were both established using the conventional industry wisdom of the day. Long vineyard rows ran up the hill - more or less north/south - with vines planted just under two metres apart.

Within three or four years, vines on the slopes at Home Hill basked in the sunshine, producing good crops of premium quality wine grapes. The property's first commercial release of wine came from the 1998 outstanding vintage. 

Meanwhile, vines planted on the flat land were far less impressive in fruit production.

"They were way too vigorous and vegetative," explained Terry Bennett, the 2015 winner of the Richard Langdon Trophy for the Tasmanian Vineyard of the Year.

The annual award – initiated by the Royal Agricultural Show Society of Tasmania – was judged over summer by a panel of industry professionals. A subsequent field day on May 14 gave Bennett an opportunity to share his vineyard's award winning viticulture with others in the industry.

The field day host told his guests that the deeper soils at the bottom of the hill had promoted excess leaf production on his young vines. These leaves then shaded the grapes, retarding ripening during the region's relatively cool summer and autumn periods. Subsequent Pinot Noir wines produced from the block were poorly coloured and lacked ripe flavours.

The Bennetts had tried to address the issues with a number of short-term fixes. But the more they tried, the worse things became.

With a bit of research, the vineyard owners found reasons for their dilemma. Their winter pruning regimes were leaving too few buds on each vine for the size of the plant's vast root system and its huge capacity for vegetative growth.

"We came across this idea or 'big vine theory' that vine scientist Dr Richard Smart had written about," Bennett continued.

"On the flat land, we decided to pull out every second plant and fill the gaps in the trellising by increasing the number of buds and the lengths of the shoots that we were able to establish there each spring."

To prevent overcrowding of shoots and leaves and any risk of shaded fruit, new vine structures were created by means of carefully targeted winter pruning. Instead of having a conventional T-formation comprising a single trunk with a head and two arms at the top, each vine was modified to create two heads with twice as many buds and canes. This two-headed system was then able to match vine behaviour above ground with that below ground.

Importantly, Bennett realised this remediation could be carried out within a single year, without incurring significant losses in wine grape production.

A decade later, the former apple orchard is now one of Australia's best small vineyards, consistently producing award-winning Pinot Noirs from the 6ha site. Wines labelled Kelly's Reserve are sourced from the same block that caused the family such heartache during their earliest years of production.

At the Tasmanian Wine Show in February this year, the 2013 Home Hill Kelly's Reserve Pinot Noir won trophies for Best Red Wine of Show and Best Pinot Noir, while the 2008 Home Hill Estate Pinot Noir won Best Museum Wine.

"We've won trophies for Best Tasmanian Pinot Noir for the last four years in a row, and have been named Tasmanian Pinot Noir Producer of the Year during the past three years," Bennett added.

Back in 2007, the property achieved prominent international success, winning the Tri Nations Challenge Pinot Noir Trophy for wines produced in Australia, New Zealand and Africa.

No surprise, really. Tasmanians often say two heads are better than one.

First published June 2015: Tasmanian Farmer