Journal / Field Notes | May 8, 2023
Before shoot thinning. There are about 18 shoots on this vine. If all of them were retained it would be a dense mess in the fruit zone resulting in rot pressure and huge yields of bland tasting grapes.
This vine now has eight well placed shoots that have the potential to make great Hardscrabble Chardonnay.
Shoot Thinning: Green Work Begins
Wine is made in the vineyard. So what does that really mean? The decisions, logistics and work in the vineyard is complex and difficult to communicate. Green work (aka canopy management) has started and will continue in earnest for the next two months. Green work starts with shoot thinning, then shoot positioning and tying, then leaf and lateral removal, then hedging, and finally cluster thinning. Many of these tasks are repeated depending on summer weather. Timing is critical and all the vines seem to need our attention at once. This is where we put in the extra long days. This is when we keep our calendars blank: meetings are avoided, no wine dinners, and certainly no vacations. The Fourth of July is usually the time when we can start to think about taking a break.
Right now we are in the middle of shoot thinning. In May, once the shoots emerge and three or four leaves unfold, the flowers clusters are visible. This is the perfect time for us to remove excess shoots. In doing so we maintain the proper architecture of the vine (it is a form of pruning), reduce the potential yield so as not to over crop, and maintain uniformity and good airflow in the fruit zone (the area where eventually the clusters will line up along the trellis). At this time the shoots are so tender that we can snap them off with our fingers rather than having to use pruning shears which would take us twice as long.
This is a very skilled task. An understanding of pruning and training goals of each vineyard block in necessary. Additionally each block will have different varieties and clones. Vine age, vine spacing, yield goals and wine style also play a role in our decisions. Before starting a new block we all gather and review the positioning and number of shoots to retain on each vine. It can vary from just four (young vines), to eight (most typical), to twelve (on wider spaced vineyard plantings. On average, to shoot thin one acre takes about twenty person hours. Fortunately we grow many different grapes. Each variety buds out and grows at its own rate. So far, we have finished Chardonnay and Merlot. We are now working on Sauvignon Blanc and Cabernet Franc. Cabernet Sauvignon will be last, probably next week.
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Linden Vineyards / Learn More / Latest at Linden | Journal/Field Notes: May 8, 2023