Winter Upkeep in the Vineyard
January marks the beginning of the new growing season. The crew has already begun to start pruning and working their way through the vineyard. Each vine is looked at separately and assessed for disease pressure, health, and the number of buds. Pruning is not just for the upcoming growing season, but it is also an investment in future vintages.
Pruning starts by looking at the health of the vine. We check the shoots and arms of the vine for any winterized diseases. This can appear as tiny black spots, scabbed over areas where the wood seems to have healed or even knots in the shoots and trunk which is a sign of virus. These areas are cut back and removed from the vineyard. Next the shoots are examined for any physical damage. For example, a shoot or cane bent at a 90-degree angle. This stems from heavy winds that may have bent shoots against a wire or a neighboring pole. If the damage is questionable, we remove it.
Once we finish removing the diseased and damaged areas, we turn our attention to how we want the vine to grow in the upcoming seasons. We do this by looking at the number of buds present on a shoot. Each bud is a new shoot for the next growing season. We want around 2-3 buds per shoot and around 12-18 buds per arm totaling around 24-36 buds per vine. Each bud will eventually grow a new shoot. When we pick and choose what buds to keep, we look at the growing position. We want all shoots to grow unobstructed and free of each other. This is the very beginning of developing an open or airy canopy. Each set of buds must be a palms width from each other. Anything that does not meet the criteria, is pruned away.
Lastly, we look at the independent arms of the vine. First, we consider the age, this is determined by thickness. We typically remove arms around the 4-year mark. This only happens if we have a cane to lay down in its place though. The replacement arm must come from lower on the trunk and be free of disease. Remember, diseased or unhealthy wood will only grow diseased or unhealthy shoots and in turn lower quality fruit. Pruning is the first step in growing quality fruit for quality wine.