How to Understand Wine
How to Understand Wine: Vine Training
What techniques do we use when training vines?
Vine training is important for wine producers when they grow grapes. Poorly-managed vines can be torn apart by wine or frost, and the techniques laid out in this article use techniques to engineer and shape vines to protect against adverse weather and improve grape yields.
Aims
The common targets of all viticulture techniques are three interlinking aims:
- Maximal yield
- Healthy produce
- High-quality grapes.
The golden aim of viticulture in quality vineyards is to produce a large mass of healthy, high quality grapes.
Growing Theory
Vines are able to grow leaves, trunks and grapes by using two mechanisms. The leaves gather the majority of the nutrients that the plant requires, with the extended root system gathering only 5% of the minerals required by the plant. This means that any serious grower will have to study not just how to grow good grapes, but look into canopy management, soil control and disease regulation.
History
In the Neolithic period, it was common practice to grow vines up treetrunks, which provided them with stability and greater access to light and the elements. However, the Ancient Egyptians and the Phoenicians began to discover different training methods, and began to use reeds and wicker to trellis the vines. They planted small rows of vines close together between 4,000 and 5,000BC, and realised that rigorous pruning of the vines produced a better-quality grape.
Around 700 BC, the Greeks colonized southern Italy and created a community so wine-based that they came to be called the oenotrians. They propagated a method of vine staking called oinōtron, and their winegrowing technology was eventually absorbed into the rest of Italian winemaking. With the expansion of the Roman empire, Pliny the Elder issued advice as to training vines which varied for each varietal.
The Guyot
During the 1860s, Dr. Jules Guyot (1807–1872) pioneered a method of vine training called the Guyot. This consists of one cane for a single Guyot from the permanent trunk of the vine, or two canes for the double Guyot (Fig. 28). The method allows vines to channel their energy into fruit-bearing as opposed to the growth of greenery, so is well-suited to poor and infertile soils, such as those found in the Médoc.
The Cordon
The next advance in trellising technique was named Cordon training, comprising of a large trunk and a permanent singular branch with spur offshoots. It was developed at the end of the C19th by Lefebvre, the director of the Royat agricultural school in France. This is more suited to hotter climates as the thicker branches are able to store more water.
The Geneva Double Curtain
Following this, the Geneva double curtain was developed by Professor Nelson Shaulis (1914–2000) in the 1960s. The method reduces canopy shade, so improving grape quality as it allows for enhanced ripening. The vine is grown into a high trunk which splits into two permanent cordons, with spur offshoots from the cordons. In 1976, a Dr. Alain Carbonneau (1948-present) revamped the Geneva system to create the Lyre system. Carbonneau was a professor at Montpellier at the time, the viticultural school in France responsible for many great breakthroughs in wine technology, such as the rootstock grafting which helped to defeat phylloxera.
The Goblet
Goblet pruning is a specialty of the Rhône. Goblet pruning became widespread throughout the Rhône as a fast wind rips called the Mistral rips through the province for 30% of the year, and vines which used the Guyot trellising were being be ripped apart. The goblet vines are self-supporting (miscrabe) and can stand up in the winds.
Conclusion
Different regions have adopted different methods of staking vines — Guyot and double Guyot trellising are widely used throughout the Bordelaise region and Goblet trellising further south in the Rhone. Farmers continue to advance innovative new methods to trellising and vine training and have certainly come a long way from the tree-growing vines of old!
