Vine training and why?

I love hearing the reasoning behind the various types of vine training (Guyot, Cordon, leash & whip…), so I’m curious what method the grape growers on the board use and why. Are there any experimental training regimes that folks are playing with?

Basically, what do find works best for you and why?
Cheers!

Michel, great topic. I’ll sit back and watch. I just came in from training some Chardonnay in Graton on Frie Rd for Martinelli. [1974_eating_popcorn.gif]

Basic VSP (single cordon wire, two foliage wires, staggered lift of the foliage wires) for shiraz, pinot noir, tempranillo and albarino. May add a second foliage wire to allow for better control in the shiraz and pinot.

We find for Quarry Hill that VSP gets a good balance between shade and sun, keeps down the number of passes (though we are now doing a shoot thinning pass through the 4 hectares of the vineyard), and is OK for mildew and botrytis pressures. Though we do have a dry, steep, windy and free-draining site.

Cane pruning for the sauvignon blanc to control yields.

this thread is WAY above my pay grade, but interesting reading! thanks

Paul, what is “staggered lift of the foliage wires”? Not sure I understand/see what you mean.

Ray, what kind of training do you guys use? And what type will you use in Burgundy?

Michel, let me take a shot at this because I think this is what almost everyone does here in the Willamette Valley. Above the cordon wire, where the cordons are trained, there are two pairs of wires that are designed to hold the foliage.

As the shoots grow they’re trained between the first, then the second pair of wires, which are movable - and they’re lifted as the shoots grow longer to keep the foliage vertical as you can kind of make out in this photo taken right before harvest last fall at Winderlea Vineyard. This process allows sunlight to the fruit (which you can almost see hanging at the bottom of the vine - the cordon wire is right about where the foliage ends) because the leaves are out of the way.

Here’s a closeup of the fruit hanging.

Michel, Martinelli typically uses Cane Pruning on the Chardonnay from what I’ve seen. We haven’t worked the pinot noir yet. The notches in the posts (four vines in between) allow to to raise the wires every say 4 inches. You start out with the cordon wire (fruit wire). Above that, your shoots push up. You train those shoots to be straight up. Too much binding early on leads to mixed up vines, which can not only tangle fruit in wires but also locks in moisture. Rot and mildew along with possible bug houses is what you are looking to prevent.

As the shoots reach up, you move the wire above the fruit wire up a notch. The wire doesn’t need to support the thicker more mature growth near the bottom as much as the the soft, pliable sections newly grown. Here’s some pics form today at Frei Rd.

We go through each row raising the wires, taping up shoots without support, training new growth, etc. Notice the fruit wire in the pic. These low hanging shoots get taped to this lowest wire.

Edit:
On the Burgundy project, it varies a great deal. We will just be a Negoce the first few years though. So, no planting/vineyard control for us just yet.

“Staggered lift” is a loose term for saying that the two VSP foliage wires don’t get lifted to their final position (at or just shy of the net wire) in one go, or at the same time.

We have a very predictable afternoon wind that comes from the west and passes over the hill and down through the vine blocks. That wind pressure means we often lift the eastern wire to a low setting before touching the western wire as a way to control the risk of early rolling.

Once there’s a bit of leaf mass on the vines, we start moving the western wire up. We meant to put a second western wire in last vintage but didn’t get around to it. Our viti consultant suggested that with two western foliage wires in the VSP arrangement we’d be able to use one for the early low lift, and then later in the season use the free wire for a straight lift to the top wire position. This will help manage both shoot position and our need to trim some of the really long shiraz canes that can get caught in the quad bike or tractor.

This is so cool, guys! Thanks for the info!

Ray, how much control will you have over the grape-growers in Burgundy? Did you set quality control conditions in your contracts, or are they mostly handshake deals right now?

Well, at this point, its all handshakes. More fruit is still up in the air. There is more fruit supposedly hitting the market due to the economy later on. I’m holding my breath until then…that is while having the handshake deals on the other fruit.

After this year I intend to stay in Burgundy helping in the vineyards of some of the sources I pull from hoping to build the relationship toward more control. Fingers crossed. I’ll be back in Burgundy this August, prior to Harvest to confirm additional fruit and walk vineyards.

Mostly spur pruned VSP with some Scott Henry and I just saw some cane pruned chambourcin