What's Up in the Vineyards?

Juan walking 

through the merlot and mustard jungle 

early this morning 

heading for coffee

(satori-coo)

Rafael pondering 

head-pruned primitivo 

before he makes 

his cuts

(satori-coo*)

(*satori-coo note: a satori-coo follows no rhyme or reason; it just sounds like Satori and Hi-Coo)

Rafael, with his official Michael Jackson autographed pruning glove, approaches the next Primitivo (a type of Zinfandel clone) vine. He's carrying the latest cool pruning tool -- battery-powered, electric cutters -- from France (on loan from Sheldon at Lightheart Cellars in San Martin -- thank you Sheldon!). The glove short-circuits the cutters, making it relatively certain that the Cutter cuts canes instead of fingers. You save the muscles in your hands and arms ... and speedy? Rafael can prune a vine in less than 30 seconds, compared to several minutes with standard hand pruners. Nice when you have 10,000 vines on your plate. Did we say "Thank you, Sheldon!"

A freshly-cut, head-pruned Primitivo vine. Head-pruned vines, as you can see, have no lateral wires to hold up the vines as they grow, so you need to develop and train a very strong "trunk" for the vine. It is zip-tied to a good-sized wooden post as it matures, so it can handle the weight of the heavy vines and leaves that will soon emerge from buds on these freshly-cut spurs encircling the trunk. (More details on this in future pruning posts.)

All those cut canes are pulled from the vineyard and piled high -- awaiting the next non-Clean-Air Day to be torched. You could try to compost them (which would take years and lots and lots of space) or mulch them -- but the canes are virtually hollow and you'd be surprised how little actual useful material would be left. 

(Stay tuned for upcoming glowing bonfire photos.)