Prunning

A lot of people ask me in the tasting room about migrant workers in the wine industry. While there is to some extent migrant workers in most agricultural fields I always try to point out that there is almost always work to be done on a farm. A perfect example is happening here in the Napa Valley right now. Pruning! All of the vines in the valley and any olive trees need to be pruned before bud break in the spring. If you consider how many vines are in the valley you start to understand the work load this time of year. Add on top of that a normally wet season (this year is still dry) and it can be a messy slow process. There are really two main types of pruning used in the valley.

Cane pruning tends to produce smaller berries but can give the grower better control over crop yield. It however takes a bit more training for the worker to do correctly.

Cordon is another widely used pruning method for grapes. It is much easier to do and a little faster.

Pruning is not only useful for quality and yield but it can also be used as an extra layer of frost protection. When you prune a vine it shocks the vine a tad and prevents bud break for a week or two. This added time is sometimes all you need to get out of frost season. But now we are getting into an entirely different subject. Ill post about frost season sometime in April. Until then, Cheers!