Jean Francois may not have realised at the time that this parcel of land was located on one of two very narrow ‘cigar shaped’ strips of the prized PERMIAN period geological formation & stratum that exist in Tasmania. This is the same geological strata that is the foundation of many of the famed limestone based vineyards of his homeland’s Bourgogne (burgundy) where Pinot Noir and Chardonnay thrive and produce wines often lauded to rise from divine intervention.
Tasmania’s beautiful Pipers River ‘sub region’ has a climate which is strikingly similar to that of northern France, making it ideal for the production of cool-climate wines
It was originally thought the entire planting of Pinot Noir was the D5V12 clone. As the 3rd generation owner/vigneron I have now observed first-hand the vine growth habits for 6 years and tasted the grapes and trial batches of wine for 4 seasons. It is my belief there are different clones of Pinot Noir within the body of Miguet imported material.
To that end I have a tissue culture laboratory growing my individual vine selection of active shoot tips. These shoot tips are growing invitro (see picture above) to then ultimately plant out on a site I believe is best suited to Pinot Noir. This shoot tip selection is based on the same criteria as a number of domaines in Vosne Romaine that have as trials underway on the Clos du Vougeot site in Burgundy. I will write more on that trial and the selection criteria as the Providence tissue culture vines develop from invitro to baby vines the size of ¼ of a match stick and there progression to the next stage which is called ‘flasking off’ before the ‘flasks of 8 ‘vine-ettes’ go into plant nursery producton. This is a long-term project and it is one of my commitments to the Miguet & Bryce legacy to preserve and selectively improve the Providence Pinot Noir genome.
Similar efforts and commitment is underway with the Chardonnay plantings at Providence. The original Chardonnay vine cuttings were thought to all be a combination of I10V1 and Penfolds. It is this owner’s view this is not the case. Trial batch wines resulting from the vines in the first 1956 chardonnay plantings are clearly neither of the above. My hypothesis is this planting represents a unique clone Miguet imported via the the certified importer W.A.G. Walker Rhododendron Flower Farm across Lalla road from Providence. It is well reported this material came from France. The resultant wines display similar fruit intensity to that of the Olmo selection of Chardonnay that was imported from France to California and subsequently to Australia in the 1950’s. I have no genetic proof of this hypothesis rather the intensity and depth of fruit flavour displayed in the resultant ‘trial batches’ of wine is remarkably similar to that I know well from my time in the Margaret River wine region of Western Australia.
The Riesling clone is unknown however it too was imported by the Miguet’s via the WAG Walker Rhododendron Flower Farm. From the circa 1960 plantings of Riesling I have subsequently selected and then transplanted 250+ of the best vines to a new location on the property. This ‘new home’ of the Miguet Riesling is on a south west slope with rows oriented at 10minutes to 4pm from north. This row orientation means the summer’s peak intensity that occurs around 2pm when the sun is directly overhead. So the bunches of grapes are shaded by the canopy above. This transplant block thus becomes a trial in determining if this row orientation can compensate for increasing temperatures resulting from Climate change. I call this the “Climate Change’ Block which also includes one row of selected Chardonnay, Pinot Gris and Pinot Noir. Production will be tiny even by Providence outputs it should provide further insights into growing vines on this unique site.
All vines are now planted to the 1.5m wide VSP trellising technique and planting density ranges from 6666 to 10000 vines/hectare