Well cut is half harvested

Unlike in tropical countries, our plant world is adapted to the four seasons... and we, who live in the rhythm of nature, therefore have completely different tasks in each season. Today we want to talk about the art of pruning . If we follow the traditional order of winter, spring, summer, autumn, pruning is the first step that leads to the new harvest... and this step is a tough one!

We wait to prune the vines until all the leaves have fallen off. Sometimes this happens as early as November, sometimes in December, and definitely in January. Then we tackle the old wood: these are the long rods that we bent in the previous season. This is also called annual wood. And this is where the art begins, because a winemaker like this has to know exactly what to do before using the shears. It doesn't matter which of our thirteen varieties of wine we start with (very different from the harvest).

Imagine you are a winemaker trainee and are standing in the vineyard for the first time. First, we will explain the tools to you. Winemakers use three types of scissors:

• The scissors for pruning vines
  (for the thick one-year-old wood)

• The pruning shears
  (for leaf work & thinner wood, all year round)

• The grape scissors
  (exclusively for the fruit! Anyone who uses it for something else will get a special place in hell)

The scissors for pruning vines are not without danger, as they have pneumatic or electric support so that even thicker branches can be cut off without any problem. Dreaming winemakers can therefore be recognized by their missing fingers.

Once the new winemaker has understood how to handle the scissors (carefully), we cut the first ten vines or so together (depending on the talent of the newcomer). We have to ask ourselves the following questions for each vine:

The higher the quality, the more radical the pruning. We usually leave two branches standing on the vines that are to later produce our table wines. The vines that are to produce gourmet wines or premium wines are only allowed to keep one branch. Each branch has several buds, and the new shoots will later grow from these buds. This type of pruning is called fruit pruning or Guyot pruning.

Hand on heart - do you know immediately where south is, no matter where you are? When pruning, we winegrowers need to know exactly whether our vineyards are south facing (lots of sun) or south west facing (even more sun!) - and what type of soil we are standing on! Because if the soil is very hard, such as granite or slate, and the vineyard is on a south west facing slope, everything points to a very dry period. In this case, it may be best not to leave any branches at all to protect the vine. This type of pruning is then called cordon pruning.

Too many leaves that are too close to the grapes mean that they do not develop properly and can be quickly attacked by pests. This includes our arch enemy, mildew. Therefore, prospective winemakers must know what they are actually cutting. Compact grape varieties such as Pinot Noir and Pinot Blanc often have double buds . In this case, one of the two buds must be broken out so that there is enough air later.

If a storm has hit the vines, a wild boar has scratched its back or Jack Frost has partially froze the vines, the pruning must of course be done completely differently . Therefore, a trained eye is extremely important.

You can recognize apprentices by the way they stand in front of the vines with a frown on their face and chew their lower lip before hesitantly picking up the scissors. Professionals, on the other hand, walk through the vineyard almost without stopping, snapping a photo here and there and finishing a row in no time.

We laboriously pull the old wood out of the wire frame and lay it on the ground. This part of the work requires less know-how. It is then mulched in the spring and returns to the natural cycle.

Incidentally, even experienced winemakers are always trying out new pruning methods . Because just as nature changes, we too must adapt. Long live change!

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