Definition: pruning (method of)

Vines are pruned during dormancy. Winegrowers can often be found bent over, pruning shears in hand, between December and February or March. Here are a few explanations about this essential practice in viticulture.

Pruning (November to March)
During the dormant season, the vines must be pruned to leave enough buds for grape production. To do this, each vine is pruned using hand or electric secateurs, which is very labour-intensive work.
At the estate, each plot is inspected before pruning to decide on the type of pruning to be used: double Guyot (2 canes) or single Guyot (1 cane). The weakest vines are pruned using the single Guyot method to allow the wood to strengthen the following year.
Why prune?
Unpruned vines become vines, forming bushes or creeping along the ground in the absence of any natural support, but as soon as their tendrils manage to cling to trees, stakes or walls, they will climb upwards to reach the tops and, if possible, spread their branches and leaves in the sun to capture as much energy as possible. The grapes may be numerous, generally small in size and acidic, and there are significant variations in production from one year to the next.

In short, it can be said that the absence of winter pruning makes it impossible to produce grapes and, therefore, even more so, a quality wine.
The importance of pruning was not lost on the ancients, as Columella, the famous 1st-century Latin agronomist, wrote:
"When pruning, the winegrower has three main things to observe:
the first is the fruit of the year
the second is the wood of the following year
the third: the life of the vine
Neglecting any of these points can cause serious damage to the owner."

Among the objectives of pruning in modern viticulture, we must obviously add the need to control its development in order to allow for cultivation and pest control operations and to improve the arrangement of the leaves and grapes.
In the past, winegrowers working in a different economic context attached great importance to this operation, which is long and costly, but also the most important, most interesting and most intelligent in the vineyard, as each vine is a special case. Nowadays, its execution does not always receive the attention it deserves, as winegrowers have other concerns, particularly in the commercial sphere...
When to prune?
Pruning is carried out during the vine's dormant period. This lasts from leaf fall (November) to bud break (March), i.e. approximately five months. It is at the time of pruning that the winegrower determines the number of buds to be kept on the vine (known as the load) and their distribution across the various arms or canes. During this period, he must manage his time, i.e. determine the best time for each plot, taking into account certain important viticultural aspects such as the sensitivity of the plots to frost (winter or spring) or problems with rootstock diseases.

Lowering ( in April): the canes left after pruning must be bent and tied to the wire of the trellis system. To make the difficult task of lowering easier, some estates are equipped with electric lowering machines that automatically wrap a tie around the cane and wire.
History, or rather legend, has it that a donkey was responsible for the origin of vine pruning by nibbling on the shoots of a vine. The winegrower noticed a difference in yield and quality in the following harvest and decided to prune every year.
Pruning is not simply a matter of cutting the vine in a haphazard manner. At the foot of each vine, the winegrower must look ahead, imagining how it will react, what shape it will take, and how vigorous it will be. Pruning requires not only physical ability but also careful thought.
This thinking serves several purposes, while preparing the vine for its growing cycle.
* It determines the future yield of the vine,
* It maintains a particular shape for the vine stock, which prevents the bunches from becoming compacted
grapes, facilitating photosynthesis.

There are different types of vine pruning. Here is a description of the most common types:
Goblet pruning
This is most commonly practised in Mediterranean regions, on ungrafted vines. It is important to choose the lowest shoots on the trunk, as these are the most vigorous. As the arms of the vine tend to spread out in the rows, mechanisation is very difficult or even impossible. It therefore remains labour-intensive.
Guyot (double) pruning
This pruning method is selective and relatively severe; it is used in temperate climates. Long pruning on trellised vines. It allows for good leaf distribution and better ripening of the grapes.
Royat cordon pruning, known as "horizontal" pruning
This pruning method is demanding and is carried out on trellised vines, requiring a great deal of attention. It offers great amplitude and allows for excellent photosynthesis.