Shoot thinning, before.

Shoot thinning, after.

Green Work

This week begins the start of seasonal “green work.” This refers to all the tasks of pulling, plucking, tying, positioning, and hedging the newly emerging (green) growth of the vines. This vineyard work is detailed, complex, often tedious, and difficult to describe.  We’ll be going full throttle in the vineyard through at least the Fourth of July.  The saying “wine is made in the vineyard” is rarely backed up with any detail. Over the next few months we intend to do just that.

The first task is shoot thinning. Over the winter the vines were pruned and tied to the trellis wires. With the warmth of April, the dormant buds began to swell and subsequently emerged to become tender shoots. This is called bud break. Each of these shoots will carry two flower clusters that will become grape bunches.

If unattended, there would be way too many shoots making for a dense, tangled mess with poor airflow and therefore lots of fungus disease pressure (rot and mildew). There would also be a potentially enormous crop that would result in watery, insipid wine.

When the shoots grow to about 4” to 6” in length we begin to shoot thin. Roughly half of the shoots are removed. All this is done by hand. This is a highly skilled job. We are not only looking to maintain the form of the vine and achieve uniformity in shoot positioning, but we are also reducing the potential crop based on yield goals. 

The number of shoots retained on each vine depends on the vine’s health (vigor) and also the natural cluster size of each variety and clone. For example, Linden grows several clones of Chardonnay. Clone #4 has average harvest cluster weights of 250 grams, whereas clone #72 often comes in at 100 grams. To achieve equivalent yields we need to retain twice as many shoots per vine on clone #72.

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Linden Vineyards / Learn More / Latest at Linden | Journal: May 12, 2022