Vineyard Management Flashcards
Name three considerations that are important concerning site selection:
- environmental conditions
- business considerations
- picking a grape variety
Important considerations concerning environmental conditions:
factors as the site’s average temperature, rainfall, sunlight hours, the fertility of the soil etc. will influence the choice of grape variety, systems of training and trellising and the ideal planting density
Important business considerations:
the proximity of a vineyard to the utility infrastructure (power, water etc.), if there’s a site for machinery and the cost of the land are all important considerations in the financial viability (= levensvatbaarheid) of a site
Important considerations concerning the grape variety:
there must be a demand (= vraag naar) for the grapes, the grape variety must suit the climatic conditions, in EU vineyards may be legal restrictions on the varieties a producer can use
After how many years usually comes the first yield?
after three years
What are the main techniques used to manage a vine?
- training
- pruning
- trellising
- density of planting
What are the two main categories of vine training?
- head training
- cordon training
IMPORTANT either system can be low- or high-trained
Head training =
- little permanent wood
- sometimes only a trunk
- sometimes a few short arms of permanent wood
- spur-pruned or replacement cane-pruned
Cordon training =
- trunk with one or more permanent wood horizontal arms ‘cordons’
- spur-pruned
- takes longer to establish but makes machine harvesting in the vineyard easier
- normally with two cordons, but also possible with four or more
Can you name a couple reasons/facts of pruning?
- it shapes the vine and limits its size
- winter pruning is the most important one, with its main purpose to determine the number and location of the buds that will form shoots in spring (it’s important that the buds are not close together)
- you have two styles of winter pruning: spur and replacement cane
- summer pruning involves trimming the canopy (sugar production, exposure to sun)
Spur pruning =
- spurs are short sections of one-year-old wood that have been cut down to only two or three buds
- spurs are either distributed along a cordon of permanent wood (cordon training) or around the top of the trunk (head training)
Replacement cane pruning =
- canes are longer sections of one-year-old wood and can have anything between 8-20 buds
- cane is tied horizontally to the trellis
- mostly on head trained vines
- it’s more complex than spur pruning
What is the definition of canopy management?
Each row of vines requires a line of posts joined by hoizontal wires. The vine’s canes and shoots are then tied to the trellis.
Which regions are best suited for untrellised vineyards (like bush vines) and why?
Warm, hot, dry, sunny regions, such as Southern Rhone and Barossa Valley (Australia) because the extra shade helps to protect the grapes from sunburn for example.
Why are cool, wet regions not suitable for untrellised vineyards?
Because the shade can impede (= belemmeren) grape ripening and the lack of airflow can promote disease.
