Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/646485
w w w. v w m m e d i a . c o m M a r - A p r 2 016 | V I N E YA R D & W I N E RY M A N A G E M E N T 3 3 + A thoughtful design is the most critical component to achieve the desired results for a vineyard's lifetime. + Over the years, there have been different trends in vineyard trellising that have varied by wine region. + With the California sprawl system often providing too much shade and a lack of uniformity, and VSP often having too much sun expo- sure and variability from one side of the canopy to the other, growers are turning to new ideas. + It's important to evaluate your site and your goals for your vineyard, and it's help- ful to talk to growers with similar sites and objectives. AT A GLANCE thoughtful design is the most critical component to achieve the desired results for a vine- yard's lifetime. Varietal, clone and rootstock selection, as well as vine and row spacing, row ori- entation, trellis design and prun- ing styles should all be based on a careful site evaluation. Once the vineyard is installed, it's impossible (or very difficult), time consuming and expensive to change these choices, so careful consideration of the goals for the site must be taken when developing the design. Over the years, there have been different trends in vineyard trellis- ing that have varied by wine region, as different areas focus on specif- ic varieties, tiers of quality and so forth. Historically, most vineyards in California were planted using mini- mal trellising. Some were planted with head-trained vines, each sup- ported by an individual stake (as many old Zinfandel vineyards are still planted). With the benefits of inexpensive trellising and the ability to cultivate the site in both direc- tions, this training style tends to have lower productivity, lack uni- formity in sunlight and airflow, and requires a lot of work be done by hand. However, a few sites contin- ue to be planted to this style, most- ly for aesthetic reasons. Most vineyards in California that were planted before the mid-1980s used the California sprawl system. In most cases, this system included a single fruiting wire for the cor- don and either one foliage catch wire or two foliage support wires attached to a horizontal cross-arm (in the case of the 'T trellis'). While this required minimal infrastructure, helped localize fruit along the fruit- ing wire and somewhat improved sunlight and airflow in the fruiting area, it still had variability in the amount of sunlight on the clusters and required wide row spacing. TRENDSPOTTING Paul Verdegaal, farm advisor at UC Cooperative Extension in San Joaquin County, has worked for the last 29 years on research tri- als in vineyard design. He says Paul Verdegaal is working on comparing the high cordon machine pruned (HCMP) trellising system to a standard bilateral. This is a newer trial at the Liberty Vineyard of Gallo in Lodi. G o a l s a n d l o c a t i o n s h o u l d d i c t a t e s y s t e m c h o i c e s . Trellising Trends SOIL & CELLAR REMI COHEN