C6 - Vineyard Management - Micky - completed Flashcards
What are the three main considerations a producer may need to make when choosing a site?
- Environmental conditions
- Business considerations
- Grape variety
Which environmental conditions does a producer have to consider? And what will be influenced by these factors?
- Average temperature
- Rainfall
- Sunlight hours
- Fertility and drainage of the soil
These will influence the choice of:
- grape variety
- the ideal planting density
- systems of training and trellising.
What business (financial) considerations must be made by a producer when selecting a vineyard site?
- Proximity to utility infrastructure: power, water…etc.
- Availability of a vineyard workforce
- Accessibility for machinery
- Cost of land
What must a producer consider regarding grape variety when selecting a site?
- It must suit climatic conditions
- Demand
- Legal restrictions (GI, AC… etc.)
How is a new vineyard prepared?
Existing vegetation is cleared
- Fertility tested (and corrected with fertiliser if necessary)
- Young vines are planted by hand or machine
- Vines protected from animals with plastic sleeves
- Irrigation is sometimes allowed to help young vines establish themselves
Why is irrigation allowed in some places, even in regions where it is otherwise prohibited, after new vines have been planted?
To allow the vines to establish themselves
When does a vine’s first yield usually come?
In the third year after planting
At what age on average are vines usually replaced?
30 - 50 years
What is the main factor that makes old vines desirable?
They give a greater concentration of flavours
What are the potential disadvantages to growing an old vine?
- Lower yield
- Susceptibility to disease
For how long is a vineyard typically left fallow for recover after the vines are dug up?
Three or more years
What are the four main techniques used to manage the vine?
- Training
- Pruning
- Trellising
- Planting density
The grower will adapt the four main vineyard management techniques to suit the availability of these resources:
- Temperature
- Sunlight
- Water
- Soil nutrients
Name a practical consideration a grower may have to make when establishing a vineyard
Use of machinery
What is the ultimate goal of a grape grower?
To maximise the production of fruit at the desired quality level as economically as possible
What is vine training?
The shape of the permanent wood of the vine
What are the two principal categories of vine training?
- Head training
- Cordon training
Both head training and cordon training can be _____ to benefit from heat retained by the soil or_____ to avoid frosts
- Low trained
- High trained
Describe a head-trained vine
- They have relatively little permanent wood
- Some only have a trunk
- Some have a few short arms of permanent wood growing from the top of the trunk
- They can either be spur-pruned or replacement cane pruned
Describe a vine which is cordon trained
A trunk with one or more permanent HORIZONTAL arms (cordons)
Usually spur pruned
Describe a positive and negative effect of cordon training a vine
The sturdy permanent cordon with shoots positioned along its length, makes mechanisation easier
It can take longer to establish because of the greater amount of permanent wood
Cordon training can also be used to create…
big vine structures e.g. four or more cordons.
What is pruning?
The removal of unwanted leaves, canes and permanent wood
What is the purpose of pruning?
It shapes the vine and limits its size
When does pruning typically take place?
Every winter and summer
What is the main purpose of winter pruning?
To determine the number and location of buds that will form shoots in the coming season
What can help to ensure that buds are not too close together?
canopy management
What are the two styles of winter pruning?
- Spur pruning
- Replacement cane pruning
Describe spur pruning
- short sections of one-year-old wood that have been cut down to 2-3 buds.
- the spurs are either distributed along a cordon (cordon training) or around the top of the trunk (head training)
Describe replacement cane pruning
- canes are longer sections of one-year-old wood, have anything from 8 to 20 buds
- Typically one or two canes are retained
- Each cane is tied horizontally to the trellis for support
- Most common on head-trained vines
What are the two main disadvantages of replacement cane pruning?
It requires a large, skilled workforce to choose suitable canes and train them
It is more complex than spur pruning
What is the alternative name for “replacement cane pruning”?
Guyot training
What does summer pruning involve?
- Trimming the canopy to restrict vegetative growth and direct sugar production to the grape
- It can involve leaf stripping so that bunches of grapes have optimal exposure to sunshine
What is a vine’s ‘canopy’?
it’s made up of all the green parts of the vine
What is a grower’s most important concern when considering canopy management?
Whether or not to use trellis
What is a trellis?
A permanent structure of stakes and wires, used to support any replacement canes and the vine’s annual growth
What is a bush vine?
The vines do not have a trellis system and the shoots can hang down as far as the ground
typically head-trained and spur pruned
What kind of climate is a bush-trained vine most suited to? Give two examples…
- Warm/hot, dry, sunny
- Southern Rhône & Barossa Valley
Why is bush-training best suited to a hot, sunny environment?
The extra shade helps to protect the grapes
Why is bush-training unsuitable for cool or wet regions?
- The shade can impede grape ripening
- Lack of airflow can promote disease
Describe vines in Beaujolais
- They are head-trained and spur-pruned
- The shoots are tied together at the tips, helping to expose bunches to air and sunlight
What kind of vines are not suitable for mechanical harvesting?
Untrellised
Give another name for bush-training
gobelet
Describe the two main aspects of trellised vineyards. And what is their collective term?
Each row of vines requires a line of posts joined by horizontal wires.
Canes and shoots are tied to the trellis.
Together, this is known as “canopy management”
What are the three important reasons for canopy
management?
- To control the amount of sunlight that gets to the canopy
- To improve air circulation
- To aid mechanisation
How does trellising aid mechanisation?
It separates leaves from grapes
What is the secondary benefit of separating leaves and fruit?
Spraying of insecticides and fungicides is more effective
What is the most widely used trellising system?
Vertical Shoot Positioning (VSP)
Which pruning system can VSP be used with?
Either replacement cane or spur-pruned
Describe VSP
Shoots are trained vertically and tied in place onto the trellis forming a single narrow canopy
How can VSP be adapted in hot, sunny regions?
Rather than tying the top of the shoots, allowing them to flop over, providing some shade for the fruit
Why might a grape grower choose adapted VSP over bush vine training?
It allows for mechanisation
How is planting density measured?
It is the number of vines planted in a given area
What is a hectare?
An area enclosed by a square with 100m sides
What is the rough range of planting densities?
1,000 - 10,000 vines per hectare
How does an acre relate to a hectare?
One acre is approximately 0.4 hectares
Name a very important set of criteria when deciding on planting density
Availability of nutrients and water
Explain the most advantageous planting density considerations for areas with limited water availability
Low planting density allows each vine’s roots to take up water from a larger volume of soil without any competition
Explain the effect on a vine of having low levels of nutrients but sufficient water?
It can still grow vigorously and produce lots of vegetative growth in preference to fruit
In a situation where a vine has plenty of rainfall/water, what may a grower do to reduce vigour?
Plant at high density to provide competition for resources among roots
With combination of what make it easier to maintain an open canopy
- Planting density
- Pruning
What is the problem for a winemaker when there is ample rainfall and very fertile soils?
- Vines can be overly vigorous
- Pruning and planting density are often not enough
What is yield?
A measure of the amount of grapes produced
In what units may yield be measured?
Weight: i.e. tonnes of grapes/hectare
Volume: i.e. hectoliters of wine/hectare
What are the three principal reasons why a winemaker may need to know yield?
- Legal requirements
- Contractual obligations
- Predicting tank space
How may yield be approximately predicted?
By observing the number of buds left on a vine after winter pruning
Which factors make predicting yield after winder pruning difficult/inaccurate?
- Frost damage
- Poor fruit set
- Pests and diseases
How may yields be reduced by the winemaker?
By removing immature grapes shortly after véraison
What is the process of removing immature grapes after véraison called?
Green harvesting
Why must green harvesting be carefully timed?
If done at the wrong time, the vine will compensate for the loss by increasing the size of the grapes that have been retained.
Cannot return the yield to the original size but also dilute the flavours in the remaining.
What effect does yield have on grape quality?
No solid link between quality and yield.
What are the broad potential effects of pests and diseases?
- Reduced yield
- Reduced fruit quality
What effect does leaf-damage have on a vine?
It reduces photosynthesis and consequently limits the vine’s ripening ability
What are nematodes?
Microscopic worms that attack the roots of the vine, interfering with water and nutrient uptake
What is the other effect a nematode can have other than interfering with nutrient/water uptake?
Transmitting vine viruses
What is the best treatment for nematodes?
Prevention
What are the two biggest problems when it comes to birds and mammals?
- They can eat large numbers of grapes
- Half eaten/crushed grapes are more susceptible to fungal disease
How are birds and mammals deterred?
Nets and fences
What do insects do to a vine?
Feed on grapes and leaves