SCARIFYING THE LAND

This week we started to bring in a CAT D7G to dig in 0.90 meters as final step to prepare the soil for our vineyard plantation. So far we have scarified 10 hectares and by end july we should have completed this task.

WINTER SCENERY

July is mid winter in the Southern part of the Andes- we took some nice pictures on a wonderful sunny day at the finca

WELLING WATER- 201 METERS IT WILL BE !!

On july 13 we defined the profile of our new well-
The characteristics are as follows:
We will cement on 15o meters to ensure that the bad water does not mix with the good one further in the ground. From 150 to 180 meters we will provide filters and go some further meters down to extract water from 201 meters. The project is expected to be finalised august 20.

MEASURING THE FIELDS

After having seized the appropiate points on the property, we marked them with the help of highly sophisticated instruments and some local experts

WINTER SUNRISE- 8.30 AM

WINTER SUNRISE- 8 AM

SUBDIVISION OF THE FIELDS

As the soil leveling is coming to an end we got busy in marking the individual parts of our future vineyard. We looked for the geometry on the map. It was not that easy to find the right spots on top of the car or walking through the finca...

NEW ENTRY TO THE FINCA

After several meetings we decided with our agronomist, landscaper and architect to replace the existing gate and entry to the property (see above) and move it 50 meters south to the Alamos, where we spoted a small hole in between the high trees.

This 8 meters distance in between our old Alamos trees is going to be our new entree to our future vineyard.

PRESSING THE SOIL

After cleaning and leveling the land of the property it is time to get heavier machinery in to press the soil.

PROTECTION & DEFENSES OF PROPERTY

On the western part of the property (looking at the Andes) some hills, which are supposed to protect the land from flooding in case of heavy rainfalls, needed to be repaired .

We filled these small wholes with sand and pressed it with some tractors against the existing fences.

DAM- WORK COMPLETED

After 2 weeks of work the old unused dam, which was full of dry trees (see previous stories) has been leveled and is ready to be used for our vineyard. The tower in the back is our water welling equipment. We have reached now 120 meters and a few meters remain to get to our desired ground water level.

OUR PROPERTY FROM THE AIR

Some astonishing pictures from the air, which were taken on may 2004.
For more recent updates look for the following coordinates -
33 14 08.15 South
68 55 59.68 West
on Google Earth

OUR LOCAL TEAM

To get the right winery project moving we are working with Mario Toso as local consultant(agronomist, who has made vineyards in the past for Paul Hobbs, Montes from Chile, Walt Disney and is currently Director for Finca La Celia). He is talking to Horacio Caceres (architect) about the final design and layout of the property to integrate vineyard, housing & hotel.

DAM-OLD DEAD TREES BEING REMOVED

On the property more than 140 dead trees were taken out in order to level the dam, which will be used for future wine plantation