We are well into pruning mode at Cellar 426. Pruning is typically done in the late winter months to get the vines ready to go for spring bud break, which usually occurs in mid April. Of course this is all dependent on everybody's good friend mother nature.
During pruning we will take off any dead cane, any branches that are touching or crossing each other, and any suckers growing off the main trunk. Depending on the grape varietal and the trellis system it is on you will look to keep the canes that are growing in proper direction. It is then important to tidy up the vine so when it grows and leafs out the sun will best catch the growing grapes. Finally we will reduce the canes length to a certain number of buds per cane, depending on the grape varietal. While natural tendency would be to leave all buds and get the most grapes possible, there is a delicate balance on a grape vine between leaving too many buds and over cropping the vine and cutting too many buds away and not having enough grapes. Over cropping leads to lower quality grapes as the energy and nutrients from the vine are disbursed to more grapes which reduces the good wine characteristics of each cluster. Obviously cutting too many buds away will yield great quality grapes, but less wine - a major problem!
Enjoy our photos as we get ready for Spring!
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| Grape Vine Before Pruning |
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| Grape Vine After Pruning |
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| Close Up Of Grape Vine |
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| Cut Canes From Several Grape Vines |
