Seven Hills Vineyard utilizes high tech moisture monitoring systems to assist in producing quality wine grapes. With only seven inches yearly of natural rainfall, the vineyard can control growth and vigor with irrigation.
Six neutron probe sites within the vineyard provide a weekly snapshot reading of the monitored areas from a depth of 1’ to 5’ in profile. Seven Hills Vineyard maintains twelve (12) Aquaflex and seven (7) Environscan monitoring sites. These systems read moisture at different depths every hour, 24 hours per day, and send the data to a data logger to be transferred to the office computer.
All of the technical systems cannot replace “footprints in the vineyard” and shoot growth data is manually collected on a weekly basis from beginning of growth through cluster set. This data acts as a cross check against the high tech information.
All of these tools are vital in decision making of when and how much to irrigate but ultimately a visual and sensory evaluation is made by Chris Banek, vineyard manager. He walks the vineyard daily probing and touching the soil and noting the overall vine stress.
Irrigation is the most intensely managed aspect of growing quality wine grapes and the key is continuous monitoring throughout the year.
