West Sussex Gazette

Vineyards are waiting for a spring awakening

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One of the most important tasks in the vineyard annual cycle is nearly complete. Pruning the vines correctly can determine success or failure of the forthcomin­g year’s harvest. It is an onerous task, with little or no mechanisat­ion possible and thus carried out by an army of vineyard workers armed with various types of secateurs. Halfway through the month of February, the task is nearing completion and the vines wait patiently for the spring warmth to open the dormant buds.

Not that the vineyard owners can sit back and relax, since the next few weeks are some of the most worrisome. The last week in the Bergerac vineyard region has seen brilliant sunshine by day, with temperatur­es of minus eight some nights and hard white frosts. Great at this time of year, since it can reduce the number of insect pests and diseases and improve the health of the vines. But later frosts once the buds have burst can spell disaster.

Such was the case last year when the vines across France and other parts of Europe sprang into life in February, with daytime temperatur­es approachin­g 30 degrees c. Then came the frosts at the end of March and beginning of April, wiping out a high proportion of that year’s coming harvest. Some producers lost up to 90 per cent of their crop, as the young tender shoots and embryonic grape trusses were burnt off by the hard frosts.

This year it’s so far so good as the winter has been cold and the vines are still asleep, but it is still early days and global warming can still wreak havoc with extremes of temperatur­e both high and low, disrupting the normal patterns of the natural world. As this situation seems unlikely to go away any time soon, producers worldwide are researchin­g methods of frost damage prevention, over and above those used currently.

But for now, last year’s growth has been pruned off and the sleepy vines are left with just the right number of fruiting canes and just the right number of buds per cane. Anyone that has a vine will know that they grow like crazy and for wine production, this growth must be drasticall­y tamed so as to reduce foliage and concentrat­e the vines’ vigour into a select number of bunches of grapes.

There are many different methods of pruning and training grape vines, each adapted to the particular climate and terrain of the vineyard. In the Bergerac region, the principal vine pruning methods are similar to those in the neighbouri­ng Bordeaux region, called ‘guyot simple’ and ‘guyot double’. Respective­ly, these leave just one or two fruiting canes with around eight to 10 buds on each, ready to produce the grapes for the coming season.

So, in the next few weeks, spare a thought for the wine producers of the Northern Hemisphere as they wait with bated breath for the dangers of the frosts to pass.

 ?? ?? Vines in Monbazilla­c pruned by Guyot Double technique
Vines in Monbazilla­c pruned by Guyot Double technique
 ?? ?? By Richard Esling BSc DipWSET . Richard is an experience­d wine consultant, agent, writer and educator. An erstwhile wine importer, he runs a wine agency and consultanc­y company called WineWyse, is founder and principal of the Sussex Wine Academy, chairman of Arundel Wine Society and is an Internatio­nal Wine Judge. @richardwje winewyse.com
By Richard Esling BSc DipWSET . Richard is an experience­d wine consultant, agent, writer and educator. An erstwhile wine importer, he runs a wine agency and consultanc­y company called WineWyse, is founder and principal of the Sussex Wine Academy, chairman of Arundel Wine Society and is an Internatio­nal Wine Judge. @richardwje winewyse.com

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