Winter pruning of the vines

Winter pruning is one of the most time consuming tasks in a wine year. Luckily we are not in a hurry though. Pruning can start a soon as all the leafes have fallen and there is plenty of time until the first shoots start to grow again in April next year. So when Christmas and New Year festivities are over we slowly start to go out in the vineyards, enjoy quiet days with early evenings and prune along. And that’s just what we are doing right now.

Of course it is always nice when the weather plays along nicely but as long as it is not really bad one can just suit up to the conditions. The main focus is of course the work, and this is indeed really important.

Pruning decides where and how strong the vines will grow next year. It has an enourmous influence on the amount of grapes that can develop and is therefore one of the most important factors of wine quality that a winegrower can influence. Weather would be another one but that we can’t do much about of course. So January and Feburary are pruning time. It is a nice and almost contemplative work and thus a great compensation for the stressful days before Christmas. A good start into a new season!