Vineyard Management: Human Factors

Question 1

Site Selection Considerations

Answer 1

Climate (rainfall, climate, sunlight, soil fertility)
Soil Analysis 
Infrastructure
Labor costs
Accessibility of machinery
Cost of land
Legal restrictions (grape varieties)
GRAPE VARIETY MUST BE SUITED TO CLIMATIC CONDITIONS AND SOIL VARIETY

Question 2

Soil recovery for new vineyard

Answer 2

3 years of fallow (unplanted) land

Question 3

Vineyard Management Techniques

Answer 3

Pruning, training, trellising, managing plant density

Question 4

Vine Training

Answer 4

Head Training (high or low ), trunk and sometimes arms
Cordon Training (hight or low), trunk with 1 or more cordons

Question 5

Spur

Answer 5

short sections of one year old wood cut down to 2 or 3 buds. Spurs are located along a cordon or on the head of the trunk.

Question 6

Replacement Cane Pruning

Answer 6

Guyot or Single Guyot. Cane pruning involves leaving one or two canes (long sections of one year old wood) with 8 to 20 buds which are then tied to a trellis. Usually done on head trained vines. Requires skilled workers who will determine which canes should be left for the following growing season.

Question 7

Cordon Training

Answer 7

Vine with a trunk and one or two horizontal arms or cordons. Takes longer to train, yet once established shoots can grow vertically along the length of of the cordon, facilitating machine harvesting

Question 8

Vine Pruning

Answer 8

Pruning is the removal of leaves, canes and permanent wood of a vine, in order to give it shape and direction. Winter pruning is key to determine number of buds that will become shoots in the spring
Summer pruning is part of canopy management

Question 9

Trellis

Answer 9

Permanent structures used to support the vine, sometimes acting as replacement canes.

Question 10

Untrellised vineyards

Answer 10

Warm, hot, sunny regions may choose to use head trained vines without trellises. Bush vines are head trained vines which shoots hang down onto the ground, creating extra shade for grapes. Barossa, Australia and Southern Rhone used bush vines, for ex.

Question 11

Untrellised vineyards in cooler regions

Answer 11

Beaujolais, France used Gobelet system, which is a form of bush trained vines but these are spur pruned, and the tips are tied together in order to expose the grapes to sun and air.

Question 12

VSP

Answer 12

Vertical Shoot Positioning System. Widely used in mechanized vineyards (spur pruned or replacement canes) Shoots are kept at a certain distance, allowing air and sunlight to reach the grapes, hence avoiding disease by aerating the vines and helping ripen the grapes.