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mark walpole

@fightinggullyroad

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I take a pragmatic approach to sustainable viticulture. Economic sustainability means getting young vines to the wire as quickly as possible to get a crop.Highly competitive perennial grasses removed with a selective herbicide, allowing annual legumes such as subterranean clover to spread and cover the areas once dominated by the grass, forming a thick natural mulch for the coming summer. No ploughing. No damage to soil structure or mychorrizal fungi. No soil erosion. Reduced diesel use. Reduced water use.#sustainableviticulture #beechworthviticulture #soilmanagement by @fightinggullyroad

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4 days ago

Walking on the Etruscan roads around Pitigliano in southern Tuscany is something quite extraordinary. Constructed around 750BC, some of the cuttings are up to 20 metres deep.As well as the roads, there are many dug outs (houses, tombs etc).American bombing in WW2 exposed intricate wineries created over many levels underground. All gravity fed! #pitiglianowine#etruscantombs #tufo by @fightinggullyroad

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21 days ago

Knock off drinks after a great day in the Montalcino region, talking and tasting Sangiovese made into more forms than most people knew existed. Its great to get inspiration from people doing things that bring a story and a vision to the wines they craft. What did I learn? Brunello doesn't have to pack a punch in youth to have great ageability. I often think I'm stretching things by releasing a wine at 4 or 5 years of age, but think about the confidence needed in your winemaking and packaging process to release one at 10! Thanks to Lorenzo at @le_chiuse_montalcino and Daniele at Fuglini for that.P.S. The 2015 Soldera bottle is full of water! #sangiovesegrapes #sangiovesewine#brunellodimontalcino #tuscany by @fightinggullyroad

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23 days ago

This post is for viti nerds.In Australia, we rarely see phylloxera galls on rootstock suckers (the native American vine - Vitis rupestris/riparia/berlandieri crosses) . In Italy the feral rootstock population is enormous, growing along roadsides and up trees almost everywhere you go. Almost without fail, they have contained galls (with eggs and nymphs, or 'crawlers' inside).In the Cinque Terre, the infestation level was extraordinary with the insect not only galling young leaves but the entire shoot tip.Today in the Chianti area, I saw extensive galling on Sangiovese leaves (Vitis vinifera - the European vine), something we would never see in Australia. Reason.......?#phylloxera #vitis #Sangiovese by @fightinggullyroad

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24 days ago

Great to catch up with the crew at @ottin_vini and spend the day immersing myself in everything vinous from the Aosta valley. Thanks Nicolas for preparing a tasting of regional and Swiss Petite Arvine's and sharing your knowledge. Still a bit of work to be done by us! Good also to see Cornalin, Petit Rouge, Nebbiolo - and even Grenache! So many similarities between Beechworth and Aosta.#aostavalley #petitearvine #nebbiolo #cornalin by @fightinggullyroad

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a month ago

Always a pleasure to visit Il Produttori del Barbaresco - to check out the cellar, taste some new releases and single-site wines.15 new @fabbricabottigamba 25HL casks just put in place this week.#bottigrande #nebbiolowine #barbaresco by @fightinggullyroad

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a month ago

From one side of Italy to the other. From meetings in Friuli, to Aosta, I decided rather than see nothing but a motorway from east to west, to take the slow route through the Alps - through Bolzano, Merano, the Val di Venosta ( actually the valley of apples) to Solda for a couple of days hiking. I got as high as 2,900m but snow beat me, so receded to explore the glaciers (mostly covered by stone). Over the Stelvio Pass through Bormio to the Valtellina. A region of more or less 100% Nebbiolo. A couple of great visits including Ar.Pe.Pe, which should be on everyone's itinerary.Across into the Piedmont alps for a couple more days hiking in and around Monte Rosa - Europe's 2nd highest peak. Once again, disappearing glaciers.Tomorrow, Aosta and Petite Arive - and maybe some more hiking around Mont Blanc! by @fightinggullyroad

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a month ago

Ganymede are an Italian company making large (40+ tonne) fermenters. These are 80 litres!! by @fightinggullyroad

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a month ago

by @fightinggullyroad

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a month ago

It was great to catch up with the crew at @vignetinox to look at the latest viti trellis technology being developed, and at work in the field. I have been importing and distributing some items for quite a while now; and have set up our new Stanley vineyard with Vignetinox end posts and anchors, line posts, wire and accessories. Let me know if you'd like to come and have a look. And P.S I can assure you that there's not going to be any shortage of Prosecco any time soon! by @fightinggullyroad

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a month ago

A visit to @vcr_vivaicooperativirauscedo in northern Italy has always been on my 'to-do' list. The scale of the operation is hard to comprehend. From breeding new disease resistant varieties, through grafting over 110 million vines per year; 1200 hectares of nursery, 200 hectares of mother vines and selling across all of Europe. From the VCR clones and new disease resistant varieties over 800 small scale wines are produced. I was fortunate to taste A LOT of them including the new disease resistant varieties, newish Sangiovese selections; and Chardonnays - none of which we have in Australia. Quite a number of the new disease resistant varieties are currently in Australian quarantine en-route to @chalmerswine and I'm sure we will see them soon enough because they are good. by @fightinggullyroad

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a month ago

A couple of great days had in the Matelica and Jesi regions of the Marche digging deeper into the viticulture and vinification of Verdicchio. Differing soils, elevations and distance from the ocean having significant impacts on wine style.Finished off by looking at red wines made from Lacryma around Morro d'Alba. The vines seem to be a magnet for phylloxera - huge amounts of galls on young foliage, something rarely seen on Vitis vinifera.#verdicchiodimatelica #verdicciodicastellodijesi #verdicchiowine #morrodalbalacryma by @fightinggullyroad

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a month ago