Notes From the
Vintner
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Welcome
to our column. We hope that you will return to
learn interesting notes on wine, and related
subjects. Wine is a great gift from God to be used
for the enjoyment of man. It is a food, and should
be treated as such. It is meant to lift up the body
and lighten the soul. 01/1/01
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Happy New Year ! !
! ! ! ! !
A New Year, so where
should we start? Let us start in the beginning…with the
vine. For it is with the vine that your favorite glass of
wine begins. It is the wintertime, and the vines are
defoliated. A time of rest for the vine, but not the vintner
in the vineyard. Pruning may be done anytime between leaf
fall and bud breaking.
On new vines, being pruned
for the first time, it is best to prune from the top to the
best single cane. Then leave eight to ten buds for growth of
new wood. The object is to establish a main trunk for the
vine up to the first wire. It is important in all trellis
systems to keep the vine clean from the first wire down to
the ground. This allows for good airflow in the vineyard.
The style of the trellis system will determine the pruning
style of the vine from the first wire up to the top of the
system.
It is important to control
the size of the crop by pruning correctly. The hazards of
over cropping and under cropping are of major importance to
the vineyard owner. The goal is to produce great grapes for
wine. If the vine is over cropped, so many clusters are
retained that fruit maturity or vine vigor, or both, are
seriously reduced. In under cropping so few clusters are
retained that the vine vigor becomes too great. This causes
shading by vigorous shoots which reduce cluster size and
number, delay fruit maturity and reduce vine
hardiness.
Determining the correct
number of buds to retain on fruiting canes controls the
number of clusters per vine. The quality and quantity of the
crop and the influence on vine growth are decisions made at
pruning. A vine not pruned for a year or more is usually low
in vigor and contains a jumble of dead or poorly ripened
canes in bad locations.
We have
started…
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