We recently had bud burst in Naramata, an important time during annual vine development in which small shoots emerge from vine buds in the spring.
Our winemaker Bradley Cooper earlier this spring was out with the crews pruning our vines using the two most common pruning styles – cane and spur.
Spur pruning is popular for vines of medium to high vigour. Classic varieties like Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Syrah are often spur pruned. We employ this for our vineyard in Langley and most our our Naramata vines. Simple to do, it’s basically similar to giving the grapevine a short haircut, retaining one “arm” on the fruiting wire as a permanent “cordon,” and trimming back the spurs on the vine to limit the growth. With this process, the cane furthest away from the cordon is completely removed, the one nearest is shortened to two nodes to produce next years spur, which will generate the two new fruiting canes.
While, cane pruning is most popular with lower vigour, cool climate grape varietals. We employ cane pruning on our Gewürztraminer. Also, easy to do, the viticulturist leaves two of the best positioned canes near the crown of the trunk, pruning away everything else from last year’s growth, and then ties down the two reserved canes to the fruiting wire. The buds on these canes will send up fruiting shoots in the growing season, which will be tied into the trellis wires above the fruiting wire.
We hold pruning parties every spring at our Langley winery, which sells out in less than 24 hours! Make sure to check our events page or sign up for our mailing list to receive advance notification.
