A vision, a winemaker, walking under a summer sun through aisles of green vines... glamourous. A grower in the cold, gray winter shivering and pruning grapevines... not so glamourous.  Pruning, however, is often the most crucial annual vineyard practices affecting vine and grape quality. Your 2012 grapevines are receivinghaircuts right now, a haircut called 'dormant pruning'. Next year's crop is directly dependent on pruning and 'vine balance', by not pruning too much or too little. Grapevines can produce as much as 13 feet of new growth on a single vine in one season; left underpruned, the vine will grow too many fruit producing buds, too many for the vine to support. Excessive pruning can lead to undercropping and too little buds. Achieving a balance is a skillful art and challenge for the grower, yet allows high grape quality and ideal volume. A grower needs to know where and how to cut. Pruning removes the previous year's fruiting canes or spurs. Canes are large, thick vines that sprout from the head; spursare buds or notches that will sprout thinner, younger vines that bear fruit and leaves. Canes are carefully selected with this year's vine health and next year in mind. Canes will produce fruitful shoots in the coming season, and produce healthy shoots for future cane in the next dormant season. Canes are also trimmed to retain the desired number of dormant buds. As much at 80% or more of last year's growth will be removed! It's not surprise pruning is one of the most expensive vineyard management practices. Though mechanical pruning machines are used, a manual secondary pruning is still necessary. Time and labor spent, all in cold weather, is worth it, to benefit the season's crop and the 2012 vintage that is making its way toward the bottle you'll enjoy! |
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