If you have the opportunity to come by the vineyard this time of year you will see lots of activity by our amazing vineyard crew. Even though the vines are dormant, this is the time of year we prepare the canes for the 2023 harvest. Keeping the vines in tip top shape is one of the reasons we have such a beautiful vineyard with premium fruit.
The first step is to go through each plant and clip the prior year’s growth with the exception of two canes. It is important that each vineyard worker is very accurate in clipping the correct canes. These canes are what will then get tied and become this year’s parent cane for the annual harvest.
The next step is what is called “brush pulling” and it takes a great deal of strength. Each crew member goes through and pulls the clipped canes from the trellis. You may have seen the tendrils on the vines, they look like curly q’s. They are deceivingly strong and hold tightly to the wires making this job particularly difficult. The last step to this process is to tie the two canes remaining from the 2022 vintage to the wires, preparing the trellis for the 2023 fruit set.
Click on the image below or drag the slider to see the transformation.
