VIÑA AMBROSIA TERROIR REPORT Ph.D Pedro PARRA SEPT 2013 1- INTRODUCCION A terroir prospection was made for the Ambrosia property during 2012-2013. The observations where made in 4 different fieldwork days. We saw a total of 42 soil cuts. The soil observations were made in order to: - Understand soils types - Understand soil potentiality - Understand soil distribution - Have an opinion about the estate of the art of the vineyard. This is a technical report, CONCERNING TERROIR, not an economical report about future options for the vineyard. This last topic will be discussed on October 7 and 8 in our Miami meeting. 2- GUALTALLARY CONTEXT Gualtallary is today the place to be in the Argentinean wine industry. There are many why but in my opinion the most important are the real balance between calcareous soil and cold high altitude climate. We cannot find this combination today in other place in the Argentinean wine industry. Few vineyards are planted there. Two main topics are responsible for that: no water available and to be afraid of frost. When I started to work in Mendoza 7 years ago, people said that Gualtallary get always frost. In my opinion, this was a big mental mistake (made also in Chile for the Andean vineyards).
Catena Zapata has his best vineyard in Gualtallary, and they are using it in an Amazing way: Catena Zapata Adriana Vineyard, El Gran Enemigo and the two main Chardonnays of the winery comes from this Vineyard. The vineyard was planted don 1996. Many people are looping today to buy a Vineyard there. But there are no sites with water to buy. So, you can buy an already planted property, what is difficult but not impossible, but you don t know what you are buying in terms of plantation, design, irrigation, soils, etc can be a lot of money for nothing. Or you can wait for water, and you can wait and wait Another big point are the scores: Some of the most important wines for Wine Advocate come from Gualtallary in the Neil Martin report. This is good, but not necessary will be again. Neil Martin is British and loves wines with personality and freshness. Many of the top wine writers love that. And Catena, Zorzal and Cia and Daniel Pi are doing this. The last DECANTER report (September 2013) put Catena Zapata Adriana with 96 pts. The Gualtallary history is starting, everybody needs to learn how to grow better grapes, and to plant it better, how to irrigate better, how to vinifie better and how to sell the history better. And this is not so simple, and for that some key words are CONCEPT, TERROIR, LONG TERM, UNIQUE, DIFFERENT, PASION. 3- AMBROSIA 3.1. Varieties The property has a 53.9 total has planted. 28.89 has are Malbec (53%) and 7.37 has Cabernet Sauvignon (13.7%). The other cepajes are Pinot noir and Merlot for reds, Chardonnay and Sauvignon blanc for whites. It is very curious that there is no Cabernet franc in the property.
In general, the quality for the Malbec and Cabernet sauvignon wines are, by far, superior to other wines produced today in Mendoza. We don t really know about the other varieties. This is a first point to observe and analyze. If the Project decides to be an STATE OF THE ART Project for Mendoza and more important, for Gualtallary, there is a big non-sense in terms of WINE CONCEPT and varieties, growing in the same property Pinot noir, Chardonnay and Merlot and the other Bordeaux cepajes. Figure 1. Varieties distribution in Ambrosia
Even if the Pinot noir can be a momentary good Business (to produce kilos is also a momentary good Business) is very important in the wine business to know want do you want to do. So, if you want to be a referent for growers and for wine, you cannot do both. It is very non-sense to cross burgundy grapes and Bordeaux grapes at the same terroir, even if you think you can expect high quality for everything. In the other hand, to produce Merlot and produce more than 6 kilos per plant can be a good business, but this one is killing the long-term status for Ambrosia. Wine Concept is one of the most important things you can have to build reputation and respect. Few people select this way of work in the new World today, because there is a big lack of wine culture, and a big focus on Money in the fast way. Fast Money kill the wine Business long term. Please, don t do that. In the other hand, Ambrosia is a fragile terroir, beautiful, but fragile. Our fertility is very poor, our water holding capacity very low, etc if we ask young plants to produce 6 kilos per plant we are killing the vines. In my experience, in less than 10 years the vines are done with this productive concept. In my opinion, Malbec, Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet franc should be the only cepajes planted in the property. Eventually, and just because there is a key point for wine Writers, Chardonnay made for high quality mineral wine, can be a possibility, but just to produce some few cases, with no more than 1 or 2 total has planted. The solution: make a re-plant program based on 10 years. This will allow correcting also the density in the vineyard (too low), the rootstock selection and the form of the vineyard. So 2 new has plantation per year can be a good way to improve Ambrosia.
3.2. Density Mostly of the old vineyards planted in Mendoza were done with high density, up to 8.000 even 10.000 plants per ha Then, the American and Australian concept of low density, and kilos/meter instead of kilos per plant, was very a la mode during the 2000 s. This industrial concept is responsible for many of the new vineyards planted today in the new World. But, when you don t have enough water, and when the land is expensive and unique, and when you care about your vineyard and so, you understand that produce 2 kilos per plant is not the same for the vine than produce 6 kilos per plant, then you realize the important of the density. Ambrosia is planted with medium-low density (2.20 x 1.25, around 3.500 plants per ha). This is a fact. For me, today, less than 5.000 plants per ha mean, in my opinion that you are not using your soil, your land, your property, and you are not having the profit you deserve. The question is how many total plants do you have for the 53 has? You should have at least 265.000 total plants, and to produce high quality grapes for around 2 to 2.5 kilos per plant, what means a total production of 530.000 to 662.500 high quality kilos. If you want to be more aggressive you can even go to 2 mt x 0.8 mt plantation (6.250 plants per ha) or even 1.8 x 0.8 mt. (6.944 plants per ha). Again, the concept is that soil in Gualtallary is unique, difficult to have. Why have less plant if you can have more? Why charge plants with many kilos if you can have the same amount of kilos not charging the plant? Remember, do you want to climb Everest with 20 kilos in you shoulders or 60 kilos? Not the same results, not the same long live for vines, and not the same quality in wine. That s why is so important for the future to consider to re-plant the non-sense varieties with high-density vines. For the moment, if you look at the yields
produced, you are producing around 2 to 2.5 kilos per plant. Is normal, soil is poor in Ambrosia, and go up means to fertilize, means to unbalance a great vineyard. With 3.500 plants per ha, with 2 kilos per plant, you are producing a total of 7.000 kilos per ha. Again, to go up in volume, means to have more money today, but failure tomorrow. It would be fantastic to charge more than 1 usd the kilo, but we know this is only possible with Malbec, maybe with Cabernet sauvignon. And the only way with the other varieties is to go up with kilos. 3.3. Soils types and Terroir. The soil observation shows clearly that the property has 3 main terroirs. Is very difficult to have clear boundaries on the soils, because all the units observed where showing low Electro Conductivity. This happens because in general, the property has no clay in the soils, and so, the CEM, who reacts mainly with clay and water holding capacity, produce unclear lectures. Any way, the photo interpretation of the Google Image, plus the soils observations and the CEM allow us to create a Terroir Map. The terroir map shows the spatial distribution of the different micro units. Six different micro terroir units were observed. From Hard caliche, with 2 has, to Sandy limestone medium gravels with 17.26 has. Following is the description per unit. 1.- Terroir Unit #1: Hard caliche (2.03 has) This unit is mostly located in the East blocks planted (17-18 and 23-24). The unit present very shallow limestone caliche soils, with very low water holding capacity and so and also very low fertility.
This unit is a difficult terroir, because there is no fertility in the soil and the roots cannot go deeper than 40 to 70 cm. This fact produces few grapes; un balanced and very light wines. Hopefully, the unit is very limited in terms of surface, with only 2 has. Figure 2. General Micro Terroir Units for Ambrosia Vineyard This soils present very low potentiality for quality. The mother rock, the caliche, is quite hard and difficult to brake, and so, the solutions for vigour are compost, special irrigation and some nitrogen.
2.- Terroir Unit #2: Sand with pebbles and decomposed caliche (5.1 has) This unit is more important in terms of surface than the first one, with 5.1 total has, but still a little one. The spatial distribution of the soils is random in the property, but mostly concentrated in the 23-24 blocks, planted with Malbec. The soil is a simple soil in terms of physical properties. The origin is based on eolic sand, mixed with some carbonates, some calcaire pebbles and also some caliche rocks. In terms of fertility the soil is quite poor, with a very low water-holding capacity. That means you need to irrigate often. The root distribution is however very good, going down more than 1.2 mts. That means your irrigation must be often and deep enough to rich all the roots. This is not a very productive soil in terms of volume, and if you want to go up, it will be just for volume and not for quality. The Malbec planted here is the best choice. In terms of quality, this is a good terroir, who can produce enough volume and fruity wines with a mineral character. In the other hand, the wines can also lack of deepness in the mouth and can be short in the mouth also, but can be a good component for blends. 3.- Terroir Unit #3: Sandy clay caliche (3.2 has) This terroir unit is located in very clear points in the vineyard. The total surface is about 3.2 has, mostly located in blocks 1 and 7. The soil is a mix of eolic sand in the surface, and a clay caliche observed at 90 cm deep. The color is a clear brown red color. This caliche clay is like a pasta, with the caliche very decomposed on clay limestone. Roots go down and are present in the pasta clay.
In terms of fertility, this is a fertile soil. The water holding capacity is good for this property, being the higher one. The presence of the clay means you cannot irrigate often, like the others blocks. If you do that, vigor will go up and can be dangerous. The big problem is that these soils are irrigated like the sandy soils, and so, it is very difficult to apply a specific irrigation. In terms of quality, this terroir present good water management. This soil provides structure on wine, the deepest mouth in the property and should be a key component blend factor. It is important to control vigor to be able of that. 4.- Terroir Unit #4: Sandy limestone gravels (12.11 has) This terroir is present in almost every block in the property. The gravels are not spread everywhere, but mostly following the ancient riverbeds, called rios secos. So we can found this soil following long lines, like spaghetti going down in the property. The total are for this terroir is about 12.1 has. That means, this is the second most important unit in terms of surface, what is very important for the future of Ambrosia. In terms of quality, this is a fantastic soil for high quality grapes and wines, providing early ripeness, fresh fruit and mineral wines. This is the soil that people is looking for in Gualtallary, considered as the best terroir for wine. The soil can be considered a shallow soil, finding the gravels around 40 cm deep. The gravels are fully limestone. There is almost no clay in the soil. Superficial soil is sand mixed with pebbles. This soil is very suitable for Malbec and is less suitable for Cabernet sauvignon and Cabernet franc. In fact, it is too much limestone for Cabernet sauvignon and Cabernet franc. For whites, this soil can be a key component for blend for Chardonnay and Sauvignon blanc. But we need to find more deep soils for the other component, in order to have more deep mouth.
Nevertheless, it is very important to understand also, that this terroir is quite fragile. Fertility is poor, the water holding capacity also is poor. And is very easy to overripe the grapes, if we don t pay attention on the harvest. And these grapes can produce very bad wines when overripe. 5.- Terroir Unit #5: Sandy limestone, medium gravels (17.26 has) This unit is the most spread soil in the property. Together with the Unit 4, they present 30 has, around 60% of the total Ambrosia property. The geomorphologycal system that forms this soil is exactly the same that unit 4. And so, the soil is very similar to the last unit. In terms of potentiality, the unit presents a similar aptitude than Unit 4. The gravels are present but not in a clear way than the last unit. That means that we can find 40 % of gravels in the profile, and we can also find 10% of gravels in the next 10 mts. But gravels and limestone are present and clay is absent. This soil is very suitable for Malbec, Cabernet sauvignon and Cabernet franc. The fact that we have less gravels, and so, less limestone, help for the other varieties. The situation is similar for the whites. This terroir should be considered also a key terroir for component blend. 6.- Terroir Unit #6: Sandy silty clay with pebbles (11.88 has) This is a very important unit for Ambrosia. Almost present in the blocks 1 to 6, this unit provides soils with better fertility and better water holding capacity. The amount of silt and clay present in the profile helps the viticulture and provides another style and kind of terroir.
This unit is a mix between gravels and clay caliche, so you can expect a mix of both conditions in terms of quality for the wine. In terms of viticulture, this terroir has a medium water-holding capacity, so irrigation must be very accurate and not over irrigate it. High vigor can be good but very high vigor, there is a limit between both. This unit is mostly planted with Malbec and Cabernet sauvignon, what is great. The results for the wines have being outstanding so far and this unit will improve with times, because this is not a fragile terroir. SUMARY 1. Ambrosia Vineyard is divided on 6 different Micro Terroir Units. 2. The soils are mainly composed of three components: limestone (in different forms), gravels and sand. 3. Four terroir units can be considered for very high quality production for Malbec, Cabernet sauvignon, Cabernet franc. The other two units will need viticulture and soil work to be improved.
4. There is a good potential for whites also, but can be controversial to go ahead with whites in this property. 5. Density can be considered a problematic point for the future of Ambrosia and for financial improvements. 6. Viticulture for Ambrosia should be high quality oriented. The terroir is fragile because of the climate and the low fertility of the soils. This is not a productive property; it is a unique high quality property.
Figure 3. Zoom Macro Units for the upper par of Ambrosia
Figure 4. Micro Terroir Units for the Southest blocks of Ambrosia. Pedro Parra E.