As spring gets nearer, the work in the vineyard picks up a little. Pruning has been going on since the harvest ended last fall. In parcel after parcel, the growers or their employees prune each grape vine back to a single cane, done by hand, of course. They line the cut canes up between vine rows. Then they go through and bend each uncut cane to the horizontal and tie it to a guide wire in a process they call pliage (folding).
Soon the growers will drive their tractors over the cut canes pulling a mulcher to grind them up. This past weekend I noticed one of the growers was spreading what I think is fertilizer (little white granules) in the parcel to our north using a spreading attachment on the back of his tractor.
The vines have buds now, but no leaves. It will be some time in April before the leaves form. That's when growers will be nervous about freezes that might kill the young leaves. If that happens, we may see smudge pots or burning hay bales out there to help minimize the damage.
It's always interesting to hear about the grape growing stages. Perhaps because I have a vested interest.
ReplyDeleteWhat do they use to tie the cane to the wire? My father would have used a torn piece of cloth I think.
ReplyDeleteAnd the cycle continues. I never tire of reading about it or seeing your pictures of this process. Thanks.
ReplyDeleteI am always amazed by the amount of handwork involved in the process.
ReplyDeleteDidn't you mention one time that one of the neighboring parcels, or perhaps more, was owned by someone who was transitioning to organic growing? Wondering how that's going.
ReplyDeleteSo labor-intensive. I have a new appreciation for the wines in my glass.
andrew, do you drink French wine? I know you have a pretty good wine industry in Australia. I haven't had and Aussie wine in many years. They were readily available in California, but not so much in France.
ReplyDeleteevelyn, it's a wire, kind of like a twisty-tie, that's put on with a hand-held machine.
bettyann, it's what goes on around here!
mitch, a lot is mechanized, but they haven't figured out how to prune with a tractor. Yet.
emm, yes. A lot of growers have/are moving into organic production around us, experimenting with different ways to deal with pests and weeds and fertilizing.
Yes, at times French wine. It doesn't seem anything special. New Zealand wine seems to dominate our shelves and for good reason. We try to mostly buy Australian wine but so much is exported and not enough left for us.
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