Chapter 6 - Vineyard Management Flashcards
Name 3 factors in vineyard site selection
Environmental - weather/climate, aspact, soil etc.
Business considerations - infrastructure, available workforce, cost of land, accessibility etc
Grape variety - environmental suitability, demand and legislation
Around what age are most vines replaced?
30-50 years
Pro’s and con’s of old vines
Better quality grapes, with higher flavour concentration
Lower yields and more susceptible to disease
How long does vineyard land need to ‘rest’ after vines are dug up?
3 years (or more)
What are the 4 main techniques for managing the vine(yard)?
Pruning, training, trellising and density of planting
What does vine training refer to?
The shape of the permanent wood
Which 2 categories are there in training systems?
Head training - very little permanent wood, sometimes only a trunk (both spur and replacement pruned)
Cordon training - a trunk with one or more permanent horizontal arms. Longer to achieve, but in the end easier for mechanical harvest
What is pruning?
The removal of unwanted leaves, canes and permanent wood. Shaping the vine and limiting its size.
When is pruning done?
In winter - determining the number and location of buds that will form into shoots
And in summer
What 2 styles of winter pruning are there?
Spur pruning - short sections of one year old wood that have been cut down to 2 or 3 buds
Replacement cane pruning - long sections of one year old wood, with 8-20 buds. One or 2 canes are retained and trained horizontally to the trellis.
What is Guyot training
Replacement cane training. Double of single, referring to one or two canes
What is summer pruning?
Trimming to canopy to stimulate and direct the sugar production to the fruit instead of the leaves. And ensuring optimum sun exposure
What is a bush vine and why would a grower choose it?
An untrellised vine where shoots will hang down low to the ground.
In hot regions such as the Southern Rhone and Barossa Valley, the vine is better protected against heat and overexposure.
In colder or wetter regions, it can disrupt ripening and/or promote (fungal)disease
What is a gobelet?
An untrellised vine where the tips of the vines are tied together to help expose them to sunlight and airflow.
This is used in beaujolais.
What is canopy management
The trellis and how canes and shoots are tied to it
What are 3 main reasons for choosing canopy management (trellised vines)?
Controlling exposure to sunlight (over exposure vs under exposure)
Improving air circulation, fighting disease
Making mechanisation possible
What is the most widely used canopy management system?
VSP - Vertical Shoot Positioning
What is VSP?
Vertical Shoot Positioning - when a vine’s shoots are trained vertically en tied to a trellis, forming a single narrow canopy.
Keeping the canopy as open, aired and sun exposed as possible
What is done in VSP in hot, sunny regions to create extra shade?
The vines are flopped over the top