As quickly as harvest is full, vignerons want to begin getting ready their vines and vineyards for dormancy.
By Bryan Christiansen
The winery cycle is cut up into 6 completely different phases all year long, every important to the success of the grape rising cycle. The primary 5 phases are concluded with the annual grape harvest, at which period vines enter the sixth stage: winter dormancy. How the vines are cared for through the winter interval is essential for the success of the subsequent yr’s classic.
As quickly as harvest is full, vignerons want to begin getting ready their vines and vineyards for dormancy. The time between the top of harvest and the primary frost is important for the grapes, and there’s a protracted listing of important duties that have to be accomplished.
Although the vines look like asleep, they most actually usually are not. Throughout their dormancy, there’s plenty of microscopic exercise taking place, with the vines and their roots each lively beneath their bark.
Compost and canopy crops
It’s necessary to guard not solely the vines however the soil within the winery rows, as harsh parts of winter storms and the potential erosion of the soil masking the plant roots are each main menace components through the winter months.
Safety is commonly achieved by planting a canopy crop equivalent to clover or native grasses, which maintain the soil tightly collectively. Straw and compost may also be used to guard the soil; compost serves a twin objective, because it protects the soil and provides very important vitamins which can be slowly absorbed.
It’s necessary to make sure the vines aren’t fertilized too late within the season, as fertilizer encourages the expansion of succulent inexperienced tissue. If this course of is completed too late, development might be broken and it will possibly result in different issues, equivalent to plant stress and pest infestations.
Vine pruning and vine well being
The pruning season varies from winery to winery as a result of the local weather and the situation of the winery decide when the duty can start.
Pruning is normally carried out between December and March. Every vine is rigorously examined to find out whether or not it was sturdy the earlier yr and to search for any ailments that it might need — equivalent to wooden fungus Eutypa, which might be attributable to extra rainwater on contemporary cuts from pruning.
Pruning additionally ensures consistency in grape manufacturing and permits for correct winery administration. Pruning strategies fluctuate relying on the grape selection, and the vigneron and their crew will choose a number of buds to maintain for the approaching yr.
The pruning course of will decide the next yr’s harvest even earlier than the vine emerges from dormancy. Relying on the scale of the vineyards, the pruning course of can take a couple of weeks or a couple of months.
Replanting useless and broken vines
Various factors — illness, harsh climate, wild animals and previous age — can result in the harm and destruction of vines. The common lifespan of a vine is 25 years; nevertheless, some vines can stay to be greater than 100 years previous.
In the meantime, it’s necessary to make sure the continuity of the winery and hold the winery rows as full as doable. Newly planted vines can solely produce viable grapes after a minimal of three years, which suggests any new crops may decrease general winery manufacturing.
Your winery crew will establish severely broken, diseased, and useless crops all year long, and mark them for elimination. These vines ought to be changed with new crops after the final onerous freeze of the yr and should not be fertilized through the first yr of development.
Work on the irrigation system
As soon as the harvest has been accomplished, the irrigation system must be turned off so the vines can acclimate to the arrival of cooler temperatures and decrease mild circumstances. If the vines have tubes round their trunk (usually used to guard the trunk towards harm from herbicides, solar harm and accelerated plant development), these have to be eliminated.
Throughout the day, the tubes create a small microclimate that’s hotter than the skin temperature. Nevertheless, through the night time the temperature is identical as it’s exterior the tube — these excessive modifications in temperature can doubtlessly trigger harm to the vines, impeding their transition into winter dormancy.
Tools repairs and constructing upkeep
Throughout the busy rising and harvest seasons, there’s little time to focus on different actions which can be required across the vineyard. The slower winter season is an efficient time to examine the integrity of your constructions and gear to make sure the whole lot is in working order and prepared for the subsequent rising season. Implementing upkeep software program is one approach to be sure you don’t miss necessary duties.
Operating a profitable vineyard enterprise requires the fixed consideration of the winery and vineyard groups all year long and the duties carried out through the winter months are the important thing to making sure that the subsequent harvest might be profitable.
__________________________________________________________________________
Bryan Christiansen
Bryan Christiansen is the founder and CEO of Limble CMMS. Limble is a contemporary, easy-to-use cellular CMMS software program that takes the stress and chaos out of upkeep by serving to managers manage, automate and streamline their upkeep operations.
