We have a few keen gardeners working in the winery and at this time of year we are all waiting for our crops to ripen.
 

Growing tomatoes only heightens the respect we have for the guys in the vineyard and it is a cheap way of thinking of how one would operate their own vineyard.   There are many comparisons to be made: where to plant; how to prepare the soil; hybrid vs. heritage varieties; grafted or non-grafted plants. These choices mirror to some degree the crucial decisions that must be made at vineyard establishment time. 
 

Visiting a grandparent’s tomato patch is always intriguing as they have years of experience and seem to let the plants take care of themselves, yet produce fruit you can still taste from your childhood. What your grandparents will tell you is that it starts with the soil which can be changed each year with tomatoes. They have many tales to tell of getting the establishment decisions right.
 

Training the tomato plant can be like shoot positioning. How about removing some leaves to let more light in? Do you go to the extent of removing the laterals or even removing some green fruit to allow others to ripen? Then there are the decisions of when and how much water to add and if it needs some food in the form of soil or foliar nutrients (decisions a good establishment may help minimise).
 

The little tweaks made during the growing season are about trying to maximise the potential quality, but the growing season (or vintage) is still the dominant factor affecting quality each year.   There will be years when a neighbour’s neglected tomato plant somehow ripens great tasting fruit on par with that harvested from your own immaculately trained vines. These are the so-called vintages of the decade or the century. Ultimately what the tweaks will do is increase the frequency of these heralded vintages (think of how many “best ever” claims you have heard coming from the same winegrowers over the last 10 years).
 

When you next taste tomato think of the comparisons you too can make with wine. There are the small artisan growers specialising in heritage varieties producing a mind-numbing array of odd looking tomatoes at the local farmers market. These are very interesting to taste - some sensational; many not so, which brings to mind the increasing number of small organic or biodynamic wine producers.

The piles of pristine looking tomatoes that fill the supermarket reflect the big wine producers who can admirably use technology to consistently reach a similar quality year in, year out - seldom disappointing the average consumer.
 

Consider our Craggy Range wines as simply fresh slices of a tomato straight from the Terrôir kitchen vege-patch that our gardener Owen has hand harvested, then carefully sliced, plated and drizzled with olive oil by our Head Chef Leyton. Every step in the process has been closely guided by experienced hands, relaxed in the knowledge that every step has been carefully thought through and there is no need for one to interfere and detract from what we have asked nature to provide.

And then there is the sauce. The disappointment that your bigger than expected crop doesn’t taste as good as you would have liked, and you try and salvage it by processing and manipulating it into something palatable. These are the cleanskins or bulk wines on the market. Like the tomato sauce you have tried to make, the cost of the ingredients is often greater than the worth you can place on the final product.
 

So have a go at growing some tomatoes this year. Think about the toil our country’s vignerons went through to do such a great job of establishing our fantastic vineyards. As they grow, spare a thought for the guys sweating it out in the sun over the festive season nurturing a crop so good that the winery team find it hard to stop tasting the grapes when it rolls into the winery.
 

I know I will be lying on the beach hoping that my neglected tomatoes come through ok and feeling assured that the vineyard guys will have everything under control. Just as well because from experience I am terrible at making sauce.