Vineyard management Flashcards
What are the 2 main types of vine training?
Head training and cordon training
What is the difference between head training and cordon training?
Head training = relatively little permanent wood
Cordon training = takes longer to set up and has more permanent wood (ideal for mechanisation)
What are the 2 main types of pruning?
Spur pruning and cane pruning (also known as Guyot)
What is spur pruning?
Spur pruning is done on vines that retain one or two pairs of permanent wood trained along a trellis system. Each winter, new canes that have grown along the permanent cordon are cut back to a small shoot containing two buds, known as a spur. In spring new growth develops from the buds on the spur.
What is cane pruning (Guyot pruning)?
One or two canes are retained each year and trained along a cordon horizontally for support.
What are the advantages of untrellised vineyards and where are they most often seen?
Most often in warm or hot, dry and sunny regions (southern Rhone, Barossa Valley)
Extra shade from the hanging shoots shade the grapes from the sun
What is the gobelet training system?
Most often used in Beaujolais
Variation on an untrellised vineyard - shoots are tied at the tip to help expose the grapes to sunlight and air
What are the 3 main advantages of trellised vineyards?
- Mechanisation is possible
- Amount of sunlight getting to the grapes can be controlled
- Improves air circulation (prevents fungal diseases)
What is VSP?
Vertical Shoot Positioning = most used trellising system
Vine shoots are tied vertically to the treillis
Can be adapted in hot sunny regions so that the tops of the shoots are not tied and can create a shadow
What is the best method to combat birds and mammals in the vineyards?
Netting or fencing
What are nematodes? What do they do?
Microscopic worms attacking the roots of a vine and interfering with water and nutrients intake
What is mildew and what are the conditions it thrives in? What are the consequences?
Fungi - affects all the green parts of a vine
Thrives in warm, humid environnments
Grapes lose their fruity flavors and wine can have a bitter mouldy taint
What is grey rot? What conditions does it thrives in?
Caused by the fungus Botrytis Cinerea. Typically attacks grapes and can taint grape flavours + lead to color loss in balck grapes.
The same fungus can cause noble rot in white GV in the ideal conditions
Thrives in damps conditions
How can fungal diseases be controlled?
- Chemical sprays (ex: Bordeaux mixture)
2. Appropriate canopy management
How to combat viruses and bacterial diseases in the vineyards?
No cure - dig up the vines and sanitize the land
