Good attitude
Morning cloud on The Ridge North Lilydale
The mantra at The Ridge North Lilydale is Altitude Latitude Attitude.
Relevance of Altitude and Latitude for its produce is for comment another day. Today, some remarks on Attitude.
Attitude is one of those words where meaning depends on context; a feature of our language which makes English a great medium for literature, for all forms of creative writing, and a very poor language for precision in tax law!
In present context, Attitude for the vineyard at The Ridge North Lilydale has meanings which include:
- orientation to the north-east
- slope of up to 17 degrees from the horizontal
- the motives and methods of the people who carry on its enterprise.
North-east orientation
Alignment to the north-east presents the vine rows perpendicular to the sun in the early to mid-afternoon. The soil is warm, the sap flows strongly. The daily cycle in the vintage processing of sunlight into wine is optimised in this geospatial layout.
Slope
Slope is a major influence on the character of The Ridge North Lilydale. Slope allows air-drain. Air-drain minimises the risk of frost in early or late season, which means the vineyard can benefit from the longer cooler ripening window provided by its altitude and latitude. Quality pinot noir and pinot meunier fruit, central to production of quality Tasmanian sparkling, can only result from long and cool ripening.
Motives and methods
Its all about attitude: good attitude. There are many facets of good attitude in this context. But at the end of the day, all is good if the custodians pass through with the lightest of positive footprints.
Warmly, Harry Rigney and Susan Denny, producers.