The starting point for any good wine is in the quality of the
grapes, but unfortunately they don't just appear by magic!
Assuring the best possible harvest means many hours of labour in
the vineyards throughout the year. There are differences in
the tasks carried out and in their timing according to the
region, the grape varieties, and climatic differences year to
year, but this blog post aims to explain the main steps in
cultivating vines.
November: Preparation of the Vines for Winter
Before the cold snaps of winter set in, the vines are prepared to
protect them from hard frosts, particularly the more northerly
vineyards or ones that are more exposed. Often the vineyard staff
will build up the level of soil around each vine stock to
increase insulation in a process known as "buttage".
During this period, vines that are too old or are in bad health
will be uprooted to free up space for new vines to be planted in
spring.
December to March: Pruning and Training the Vines
The main task is the pruning of the vines. Left on their
own accord, vines are very rampant, so need to be kept strongly
in check. The principal aim of pruning is to reduce the
number of shoots to leave just those that will eventually bear
fruit for the year's harvest. This practice enables each vine to
concentrate its efforts, which will in turn improve the quality
and the sugar levels in the grapes at a later stage. It's a long
and laborious process, as the vineyard workers snip away with
their secateurs vine by vine. The cut shoots are often then
scattered and crushed in between the rows of vines to return
natural organic nutrients to the soil.
Posts and training wires are repaired, and the remaining shoots
are attached to their support manually to help control the form
of the fruit-bearing branches. "Pliage" is the action of
folding the branches to give the desired shape to the cine, and
"accolage" is the term given to the act of attaching the shoots
to the wires.
At the end of winter, once pruning has finished and as soon as
the soil allows, the "débuttage" begins to return the heaped soil
from around each vine stock to the middle of the rows. This
soil is then spread, "décavaillonnage", and the soil tilled to
aerate it, remove unwanted weeds naturally, and to help with
drainage of water.
April to May: Debudding
In April the vines begin to grow rapidly, and the dark, bleak
countryside of the winter begins its transformation to green with
the arrival of new life.
The vineyard manager then starts to debud the vines, selecting to
keep only the buds that will produce the grapes come harvest
time. Unwanted shoots are also pruned in a process called
épamprage, again to limit the number of grapes produced. It
is very important to control the yield, so that each vine can
channel its energy into a smaller amount of fruit, but with an
improved quality.
The first treatment of the vines is carried out as a preventative
measure against disease. It's also a favourable time of
year to plant new vines.
The weeks between the bursting of the buds and the definitive end
of the risk of frost are very worrying for the vine manager,
because a cold snap can burn the buds and severely impact the
harvest.
May to June : Flowering
This is the period when the first flowers on the vines appear and
reproduction happens. If it's too humid or cold during the
flowering period, the rate of growth slows which can reduce the
number and size of the grapes. After flowering, the first
small green grapes are formed. The vine managers closely monitor
the vines, and select the necessary treatments to ward off
unwanted diseases such as mildew, black rot vines
reproduce.
July to August: Leaf Removal and Green Harvest
As the weather gets warmer, so the bunches of grapes mature and
become bigger. The principal task of the winemaker at this
time is to ensure the optimal mix of quality and quantity of
grapes. Too many grapes and the sugar levels will not be
high enough to produce a good wine, but by reducing the number of
grapes, so the number of bottles that the winemaker can produce
and sell also decreases.
The wine maker first removes some of the leaves from each vine
during "effeuillage", so that each bunch of grapes receives the
maximum amount of sun to fully ripen, and also to better aerate
the grapes, which helps protect against mildew in rainy periods.
Once the grapes have started to grow, the winemaker may choose to
conduct a green harvest by removing unwanted bunches of grapes in
a process called "éclaircissage". This helps to improve the
quality of the remaining grapes by raising the sugar levels.
September TO October : Harvest
This is the most stressful time of the year for the
winemakers. They spend much time walking amongst the vines,
inspecting and tasting the grapes to choose the best possible
moment to start the harvest. The key influencing factors
are the level of tannins, sugar and acidity, combined with
weather forecasts. The variety of grape, as well as their
physical position in different vineyards will determine the order
of harvesting of the vineyard plots.
As important as the choice of when to harvest the grapes, is the
management of the team of harvesters and the preparation in the
winery to receive the harvest. The harvester need to be
trained, supervised, and often lodged and fed, whilst the vats
must be sterilised before the fruit is added.
The annual cycle of cultivating the vines ends with the spreading
of the "marc" (skin, seeds, and stalks) amongst the vines to
return natural nutrients to the soil.
And then the leaves turn a sea of red, yellow and orange before
falling from the vines, as a new cycle begins!
