Horse power finding under-vine solutions

A throwback in vineyard ploughing technology in Marlborough, with a Clydesdale horse named Duchess, has proven successful for tackling tough viticultural management work, in particular under-vine ploughing.

Terroir & Us hosted an open day for eager staff at Auntsfield Estate at the end of May, with Duchess and business owner Emma Rossignol displaying under vine ploughing and vineyard management options to keen guests. After finding a job at a similar business in France, Emma says that her combination of vineyard ploughing experience and passion for horse riding was something she saw a gap in the local market.

“There’s plenty of under-vine competition here in Marlborough, but everywhere I’ve been working nobody could really knock the weeds the way they wanted to, because I think the equipment available in New Zealand wasn’t quite right for the task at hand,” says Emma.

“I started ploughing in France a few years ago now, and found a business working in the vineyard with horses.  With a riding background, it’s two joint passions combining into one. Horses can do a job that no machine can, going through every soil type, working when it’s wet, dry, on hills or in areas machines can’t go and the quality and consistency of the ploughing job is better than a machine operation”.

Emma says that while Duchess is “big, beautiful and majestic for many to watch”, she isn’t just a pretty face with many uses for vineyard managers.

“Duchess brings back memories for a lot of people, just as she  did for my grandparents, but sometimes industrialising a process doesn’t have the same human touch. People are wowed by her, which does help with marketing – she’s basically a professional athlete - but there’s genuine need for the jobs we are able to do for our clients that otherwise become unnecessary trouble. If vineyards struggle with weeds and resistant grasses, herbicide doesn’t help whereas the physical ploughing does and we’re not having the same impact on soil compaction that running tractors does.

And while Emma says that the process may take a little longer to plough vineyards, the resulting job is able to be more tailored to needs.

“It’s not going back in time; it’s working with our knowledge to understand the issue that everybody faces and then work to a solution for the vineyard. People are always worried about the speed of jobs, but sometimes with tough jobs the speed isn’t what matters – it’s the result. I would love to have many horses, and I hope one day I will have enough time that I can have permanent Kiwi’s working with me, but for now, it’s maintaining the clientele that I already have, doing a good job for them”.