Pruning the grapevines

What a mess!

The job was daunting. We'd been gone most of the summer sailing, which isn't prudent when you are trying to start a vineyard, but hey it's all an adventure isn't it? Meanwhile, the weather had been mild and moist until last week when we finally had a cold snap. Frost, sleet, hail and snow finally put the vines to sleep and they dropped their leaves so we could see the structure of the vines themselves. And what we saw was not pretty. I kept going up there and coming back down without having done a thing.

From Urban Wine Grower

I studied photos of properly pruned vines.  I learned the different parts of a vine. Our vines are in year three. The drawing above is what I might strive for if I was doing the French version. I studied trellising, which is what we were striving toward in our vineyard. It made so much sense to us when we saw it in Spain. Get the vines high up off the wet ground, give them plenty of aeration, the canopy on the trellis will provide lots of exposure to the sun and keep the weeds down beneath it. So I know that I essentially want one long primary stem from which then a crown will form above the canopy. But how do I get it that way over the next year and how do I ensure that I don't cut too much away? I wasn't confident about making that first cut.

Then I watched a video that changed everything. There are many videos on YouTube but I liked a couple better than the others. I liked Dave Wilson Nursery.  There was a second one but I closed the window and now can't find it.

Rondo vines have two main cordons each. 

I also got help from several blogs. Illustrations in the blogs helped me to 'see-through' the neglected vines. Since Alex has not yet constructed the six-foot-high Spanish-style trellises which we have decided to adopt, I have had to train and tie the vines in temporary place on the current wires. I hope we can straighten the stems without breaking when we need to get them to grow upright. That's why I've left extra cordons, in case some break. These vines are easily breakable. I still need to prune off this year's growth. Winter in the vineyard is going to be a busy place. Need to dig up all the nasty weeds and cut the grass, too. Once the canopy is in place, I hope the grass will be suppressed.

I left extra cordons on the white Solaris vines. 

Country smog - smoke mixed with fog.