Pruning
time at San Polino (and other thoughts):
In viticulture there
should be a good reason behind whatever you do in your vineyards. We
make organic grapes and organic wines and with our approach to
farming we do not ever want to leave things to chance; we wish to be
the chief protagonists in deciding how our grapes will turn out in
any particular year.
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| Just a few weeks ago in Montalcino - brrrrrr, cold! |
The preparation for
our next harvest, our future Brunello 2013, started last October when
we ploughed the land in between the rows of vines so that the winter
rains could penetrate the soils and feed the vines. In November we
seeded the fields with plants such as beans and sweet peas which
would enrich the soil with nitrogen to feed the organisms that would
feed the other organisms which would ultimately feed the vines. We
also seeded wild flowers to encourage as many insects, fungi,
bacteria and yeasts as possible into the vineyards, to make for a
greater biodiversity of living species in the environment around the
vines.
Then over winter
everything was quiet in the vineyards, until
we started the yearly pruning.
Each year the vines
must be pruned so that they will produce the right amount of grapes
(1kg per plant) at the right height from the ground (80cm ) with the
right amount of foliage (1 square metre of leaves for every kilo of
grapes). These measurements work for us, growing Sangiovese grapes
for the production of the Brunello di Montalcino. They give us a
medium yield of grapes with good concentration, tannins, acidity and
without too much alcohol.
The advantage of
having a small farm is that you can do all the necessary work at the
right time.
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| The part of the vineyard to be pruned this week. |
Farms that have
large extensions of vineyards have to start their pruning process
often as early as December in order to have it all finished before
the first spring growth starts. This can create problems for the
plants for three main reasons. Firstly, any large cuts made during
the pruning process can traumatise the plant during icy weather.
Secondly, early pruning can lead to early budding. This can be
disastrous in the case of a late frost. Lastly, large farms will have
to rely on the work of many people, so the pruning work will not
always be of a consistent quality. Any lack of skill and proficiency
in the pruning process can damage the production of healthy grapes in
the summer.
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| Avni's hand leaving a grape producing bud and a lower leaf only producing bud/branch |
Luckily, with only 5
hectares, we can do the pruning at the best time. This is the period
just
before plants begin to wake up from their winter slumber. The lymph
is not yet moving and the climate is on our side, with the hard
winter frosts already passed. We like to prune with a waning moon
which keeps the lymph from rising and helps the plant stay dormant.
You may disbelieve this, but it’s so, I’ve seen it. As the
February/March moon starts to rise the plants start to drip as you
cut them. The higher the moon, the more liquid they lose. It would be
anthropomorphic to say that they’re crying, but it certainly feels
that way when you see it!
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| Showing the shape and use of the cutters |
We began to prune
the vines this last week immediately after the full moon.
We use hand cutters,
with long handles and tough sharp blades. They’re easy to
manipulate and make neat, net cuts. We make only small cuts, in order
to protect the plants from damage and so that they can easily seal
the wounds.
We leave four spurs
with two buds on each vine, making for not more than eight branches
per plant as the growth starts. Most of these buds will grow into
grape-producing branches but sometimes we leave lower buds that will
only produce leaves, and not grapes. We do this on purpose to keep
down the quantity of grapes while allowing the plant greater capacity
for photosynthesis.
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| Katia pruning. |
It takes one person
16 full time working days to prune 5 hectares of vineyard. Two
people, just over a week. Long hours flat-out. While pruning we
select and put aside cuttings from vines that we know produce the
best grapes. We’ll use these cuttings next month for grafting onto
plants that we wish to change or invigorate.
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| Katia's trained professional help |
That’s enough for
now, I’d say. Better get some sleep because there’s pruning to be
got on with tomorrow!!
Katia Nussbaum –
San Polino
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