All Go in the Vineyard

It was very busy in the new areas of vineyard on Meadowbank Station early this morning.
More irrigation was being installed. Here the contractor is busy driving along on his ATV with trailer on behind. He has reels of black polythene piping on the trailer and was stopping from time to time to run out yet another length. The irrigation system is rapidly being organised. You can see the piping lying along the rows in the foreground.
Miles and miles of wire are being installed between the vineyard posts. The wire is 2.5mm high tensile zinc/aluminium coated specially made for vineyards. Each roll of it is 1000 metres long. I would love to have shares in the companies which make the wire.
Two other workers were busy placing long rulers against each post and marking off where special clips are to be hammered in. Yet more workers were following along and hammering in the clips. These clips enable the wires to be lifted as the vines grow upwards. The vines are then supported throughout their growth until vintage….about six months away. (Not that these particular small plants will be producing for a while!)
The tiny grape plants which looked like small sticks in the ground when first planted are coming along very nicely. If you look carefully near ground level you will be able to see their first nice green leaves. Watching this vineyard develop over the weeks and months is fascinating for me. I had not realised just how much work goes into the end product of Marlborough’s world class wines.