HAVE YOU SEEN THE RAIN?

Mid-summer heat. Even flays are resting on early afternoon. OK, it is summer and it should be hot. We're used to this. What is causing increasing worries is absence of decent precipitation for almost a year. The winter was dry, very windy and cold. Lack of water is visible everywhere. It is becoming obvious in recent weeks when shrubs and trees are loosing their foliage. Even hardy plants like vine with deep roots are beginning to show the stress. Depending from ground type it is more or less obvious. Some vineyards on shallow Karst soil or higher laying grounds with Merrel terrain are especially affected. Suitable grounds on Karst are not abundant. Therefore many vineyards are planted where only shrubs and grass was growing before. Additional soil had to be brought there in order to plant vine. Few have irrigation system installed. Actually there was no need for it. And it doesn't pay of. This summer is putting the plants, also vine to test. The forecast for next two weeks is: hot and sunny.

natural vineyard

dawn in Karst vineyard

about 70 years old Teran vine...it will probably survive even this drought

Teran grapes

Emil Tavčar and his special Teran, vintage 2010, hard year but a small quantity of extreme rich wine

Teran, Malvazija, Vitovska...Karst wine

           

LATNIK

 

Latnik is the name of traditional trellis for vine growing in Karst and surrounding areas. It is Teran wine which most likely comes from traditional latnik in Karst. It is still in use in many places, but almost none are newly built. New vineyards are set with modern vine training system, to be easily cultivated with machines. They are also cheaper to build than traditional latnik. For centuries all the work in vineyard was done manually, therefore latnik was appropriate cultivation form. Why this form of trellis developed is not really clear. It is speculated it may be for protection against summer drought, for it casts shadow on ground and also protects grapes from summer sun. Grapes hang freely beneath the canopy. There is less work with pruning during the year.
There are variations of latnik, from light inclined to steeper and leveled post type.
Smaller vineyards with latnik system appear almost like art objects in landscape, especially in winter when it's wooden structure is not covered by leaves.