I have to recognize that during the first years of cultivation vines may need some support. It is then when fieldwork can be more crucial. I am talking about the first 5 or 6 years, which is when the vine’s rooting system develops fastest and fieldwork can be carried out to facilitate their implantation. Despite all this, we can see how Francesc Capafons, in vineyards on hillsides with poor and craggy land, is growing vines not only without carrying out any fieldwork but in full competition with weeds (which he says are not bad for the vine at all, in fact they are very positive). Therefore, the thought that fieldwork is essential to grow a vine is not so clear anymore.

Once the vineyards ‘s first years have passed, fieldwork seems to be even less necessary, up to the point where I believe that it is the worst way to maintain soil, regardless of the advantages it may provide.

After weighing the pros and cons of fieldwork, I choose no fieldwork, mainly because:

1 When fieldwork is carried out and the soil is too fresh (something very typical in spring), compaction is produced just below the worked and loosened soil and a hard and waterproof layer is produced called tillage pan.

2 Erosion is favoured, especially in vineyards with inclination – and there are many. In some cases, it can be dramatic; in an 80-year-old vineyard, for example, you can see how a few centimetres of land have been dragged due to run-off and the farming implement.

3 Sometimes infertile soil horizons are brought out (changing what nature has taken several eras to form).

4 We break superficial roots and sometimes whole trunks and vines.

5 We spend more time and gas (higher cost and greater carbon footprint).

6 In spring, the risk of frosts rises.

7 After it rains, accessing the plot is more complicated because of the mud (take into consideration that accessing the vineyard is sometimes necessary because a treatment has to be applied or the grape has to be picked).

Therefore, as fieldwork is not indispensable we can manage without it (if possible and they allow you).

And if we do not carry out any field work, which is the best system?

Well, clearly, if the weather and irrigation system allows it, the best system is growing vegetation covers, because it is ecological, it avoids erosion, it provides organic matter, it avoids compaction, and you can access the plot earlier after it has rained.

Only when competition for water is excessive, do we have to start thinking about eliminating the weeds. In our conditions, in La Rioja and most of the areas in Spain, the best system may be a mixed system, a vegetation cover until May or June and then the use of a herbicide as less aggressive as possible to eliminate this cover – continuously cutting it or even using sheep, as we already explained in chapter 5.

When we carry out soil maintenance work, we aim for several objectives:

• The main objective is to create a favourable environment from a physical, chemical and biological point of view for the vine’s root system to develop.
• Another important objective is to control the presence or absence of species that compete with the vines for water and nutrients.
• It will also simplify the access of personnel and machinery and other several operations such as pre-pruning, pruning, debudding, the protection of crops, etc.

There are different strategies involved in the soil maintenance of a vineyard. The most traditional strategy is fieldwork. By means of fieldwork, we turn over the soil in order to, amongst other things and as we will see below, eliminate the spontaneous vegetation that grows in the vineyard’s lanes.

Traditionally, due to the strong resistance of vines, that is, their capacity to adapt to soils and drought, they were cultivated in non-irrigated areas, often in plots where other crops could not be grown. As a result, the most extended technique when working soil in vineyards was fieldwork. This was because maintaining the soil free of other species that compete for water in non-irrigated areas was essential for the vines.

However, due to the evolution of winegrowing, of the legislation (irrigation was not allowed in the past), the colonization of new plots, the increasing availability of water for cultivating, the search for higher-quality grapes and wines, the need to control the vine’s vigour and the need to control erosion issues arising from vineyards with an inclination, amongst other things, has led to the use of vegetation covers in vineyard’s lanes, that is, between the rows of vines.

The most extended soil maintenance techniques are currently:
-SOIL WITH FIELDWORK: free of vegetation during the entire year.
-SOIL WITH A VEGETATION COVER:
-Temporary or during the entire vegetative cycle
-On the entire surface or on part of it only
-Natural vegetation (local) or seeding.

However, there are other soil maintenance techniques such as Mulching, which consists in covering the surface of the vineyard with lifeless materials (vegetable residue, straw, plastic, etc.), but which is currently only carried out in the lanes in order to keep them free from vegetation and avoid the use of herbicides.

Amongst the advantages of fieldwork we can list:

With regard to the soil’s properties:
• It regulates the hydrological regime.
• It aerates the soil.
• It buries amendments and fertilizers.
• It mobilises mineral elements.
• It eliminates the soil crust and loosens up the compacted soil.

With regard to the vine’s development:
• The destruction of the superficial root system favours the deep penetration of roots.
• It eliminates weeds by burying them or cutting them.
• It buries mildew inoculum and reduces the capacity for infection.

With regard to the soil’s biological properties:
• It favours aeration and microbial activity in the soil.
• It eliminates, although temporarily, weeds.
• It eliminates plants that act as plague reservoirs.

However, it also has some disadvantages:
With regard to the soil’s properties:
• If not worked when in suitable conditions: Tillage pan
• The farming implements can bring out an infertile soil horizon.
• By loosening the soil, erosion is favoured.

With regard to the vine’s development:
• Mutilation of the superficial root system.
• Wounds are inflicted on the trunk where wood diseases can penetrate.
• An increase in the risk of spring frosts and coulure if fieldwork is carried out in a sensitive period.

With regard to the control of weeds:
• Fieldwork breaks weeds and thus disseminates the seeds: little persistence in their control.
• When working the soil, pieces of plants multiply fast and they are dragged towards the front.

With regard to the vegetation covers, there are also advantages:
• Nitrogen sets in the soil.
• Protection against soil erosion.
• Provides organic matter to the soil.
• Controls weeds.
• Reduces the loss of water in the soil due to evaporation.
• Improves the soil’s structure.
• A reservoir of predatory insects of plagues is achieved.
• Reduces the compaction of soil due to the passing of machinery.
• Controls the vine’s vigour.

And its disadvantages:
• Higher water consumption.
• Increase in the risk of spring frosts.
• Increase of weeds in spontaneous covers.
• Increase of plagues – reservoirs of plagues.

In short, the use of vegetation covers has multiple advantages in the vine’s productive process and in the obtainment of quality grapes. These advantages are realistic only in specific situations where the covers do not compete excessively with the vineyard. Vegetation covers are not positive as a general rule, the specific conditions of each vineyard have to be studied.

Can you imagine that it´s been a year now since we started to introduce you to the wine world through our Vinopedia videos?

This definitely calls for a celebration! Be prepared, for during the week of 13-17 of June we will put a set of questions on our Facebook Wall. Those of you who respond correctly to all these questions will enter drawing for a 12 bottle wine cooler, perfect to enjoy the wine in its best condition.

During these months we had a lot of fun, we enjoyed both the vineyards and the winery, getting to know much more things about white and red wines and, what is the most important, we learn a lot from those who work there.

So this is your moment to show us what you know so, get ready to participate and, of course, spread the word. You will see that the questions will be very easy. Anyway, you can review our chapters to get yourself prepared for this fantastic opportunity.

Also take a look at the soils in these estates; they are very interesting. In our next chapter, we are going to speak about the different ways of maintaining soils. Field work, non-field work… its advantages and disadvantages. We have gathered different opinions from people who defend field work in a really passionate way, and also others who prefer leaving the vineyards untouched. We will listen to their reasons and the advantages and disadvantages when following both options.

Meanwhile, here are some photos so you can enjoy the vineyard.