Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/744999
4 8 V I N E YA R D & W I N E RY M A N A G E M E N T | N o v - D e c 2 016 w w w. v w m m e d i a . c o m ers] are gaining one year of yield, but they're going to lose the cane in the winter." The severe winters of 2013 and 2014 severely dam- aged Michigan's vineyards and resulted in drastically reduced crops in the subsequent growing seasons. "There's pressure to put some grapes on the vine so, when they get this very long bull cane, they think they're going to get some good crop and recover quick- ly," says Sabbatini. Bull canes frequently appear on vines with excess vigor or cold damage. Bud damage by extreme or ill-timed cold can be another issue in colder climates. When pre- paring to prune, survey the vineyard for bud damage. Even if no damag- ing cold occurred, certain varieties prone to bud necrosis may have die off that should be accounted for when pruning. Without this screen- ing, too few buds may be left and, thus, concentrate vigor, creating bull canes. BALANCING THE FUTURE A balanced vine supports a lim- ited quantity of canes and high- quality fruit. Pruning too little or too much may not result in imme- d i a t e d e t r i m e n t s b u t , i f d o n e improperly over multiple seasons, it can cause eventual problems like increased cold sensitivity and sus- ceptibility to disease. Remember, only medium- to dark-brown canes with four- to six-inch internodes and diameters of three-eighths to one-half inch should be retained. Avoid selecting pale, undersized or large vigorous "bull" canes with long internodes. Ideally, you have more than enough healthy canes to choose from, but it gets tricky when the vine indicates it's bal- anced with more canes than there are healthy candidates. "Sometimes, the growers want to stretch a little bit or replace a vine, but bull canes are very cold- tender," says Sabbatini. "So [grow- "We want to be sure there's no damage," says Sabbatini. "If there is, we assess and prune consequent- ly. Damage around 10% to 20% of the buds means we prune the same as if there was no damage. At 40% to 50%, we think about pruning dif- ferently, leaving double the buds than normal. When we see damage of 80% to 90%, the growers con- sider crop loss and focus on how to train the vine for the next year." Screening should also include cordons and trunks. Many vineyard managers skip this step and later regret not spending time to develop and immediately implement a com- pensation or rehabilitation strat- egy. "Regardless of how cold your vineyard gets, it's worth your time to examine buds, canes and trunks for evidence of winter injury, espe- cially before you complete your winter pruning," says Wolf. Even in vineyards with weather stations and temperature readings, nothing beats physical examination. Carlsen & Associates 707-431-2000 "Wanted to drop you a line because after our Waukesha pump went down last night I was connected to Tony thru your after-hours line. He took 25 minutes troubleshooting the issue and after I was unable to resolve it he offered to come to Napa and get the pump running." Alex Mossman, Asst Winemaker Italics Wine Napa, CA ...to be continued " Corp. MANUAL DISGORGING AND DOSING MACHINE SEMI-AUTOMATIC CORKING WIRING MACHINE Your partner for your "methode champenoise" programs www.valentinthierion.com grottiers@valentinthierion.com 707-320-3877