Winter Pruning

Melissa Sanborn

Winter pruning is among us! We started pruning February 7th and let me tell you, there is something a wee bit disheartening about pruning your first vine of the season and looking up at the 10,000 left awaiting their turn. We are, however, currently half way through the vineyard and about to move onto the Kornze block, or our older red grape vines.

Pruning is done in the winter when the plants are dormant and before buds begin to swell. Once the buds wake up, they become tender and are easy to bump off, so you want to be done man-handling the vine before the weather warms too much.

Pruning involves removing much of last year’s growth in preparation for the new growing season. It is also an opportunity to determine the vine’s crop load for the coming year. We spur-prune our vines, meaning we cut last year’s canes to a specific number of buds. We shoor for approximately 20 buds/vine when we prune. This breaks down to roughly 2 buds/spur, 10 spurs/vine. Each bud will produce a shoot with 2 grape clusters, so each spur should theoretically produce 4 clusters…times 10 spurs, you’re looking at 40 clusters per vine if all goes well. This is a rough guildeline, however, as each vine is different and requires some thought and creativity from the pruning-individual. Sound confusing? It is, but as you watch the vine grow throughout the season, it begins to make sense, and you get a better understanding of what to do for the following year’s pruning.

We hope to be done with pruning by mid-late March, after which will follow bottling! Stay tuned for bottling announcements for all those wanting to get in on the fun.

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