"We want our vines to be producing fruit for the next 50 years," says Adam Foden, our Sussex Vineyard Manager. "And pruning is the foundation. The way we prune preserves the health of the plant for a very, very long time in the future."
Adam is - as always when talking on a subject close to his heart - fizzing with enthusiasm about our approach to pruning. But, perhaps it’s because it takes place in the cold months, out of sight of most of our visitors, but pruning is one of the unsung arts of vineyard work.
It's a job that's part biology, part instinct, part historical knowledge - an incredibly skilled manual process. It's certainly one of the most crucial, labour-intensive vineyard tasks of our year, shaping both the quality and quantity of the season’s grape yield. At our vineyards in Kent and Sussex, this precise and strategic process is the start of the growing season.
Why we prune the vines
As any green-fingered gardener will attest, pruning plays a vital part in the year ahead for each plant. In the vineyard, it serves multiple purposes – all of which are linked to the health of the vine and the quality of our fruit.
Pruning helps controls vine vigour, balances fruit production and ensures optimal ripening conditions. “Pruning is essential for maintaining the architecture of the vine creating good positions of growth for the next pruning season. We prune the vines not just for the coming season but for future seasons also,” says Jon Pollard, our Head Vineyard Manager.
Without proper pruning, the vines would produce an unwieldy canopy of leaves making it harder to ripen fruit as well as impeding air flow (which makes the vines and fruit susceptible to disease). Pruning also plays an important role in maintaining vineyard consistency, helping each vine produce fruit of comparable quality year after year.
Everything in its season
In nature, all things have their season. We only prune the vines when they’re dormant, so between late November and early April. From a practical point of view, it makes accessing the plant easier: the vines have dropped their leaves and so the structure of each vine is clear. And, because the vines aren’t actively growing, the team can make precise cuts without causing undue stress to the plant.
“Our approach to pruning follows the ‘gentle pruning’ technique,” says Jon. “This is where we don’t make any large pruning cuts and where the growth points that we select at pruning arise for the spurs. If we select spurs and canes form last year’s spur it means that we are maintaining the established vascular flow in the vine.
“If we start chopping and changing where we take our spurs and canes from this can create interruptions in the vascular flow and put the vine under stress; its vascular system becomes compromised and less efficient. This is sustainable pruning in practice – a long-term approach as pruning has an influence far beyond the coming growing season.”
We predominantly use the single-guyot pruning method. This technique is widely used for Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier (the three grape varieties we grow at Gusbourne which are used for our still and sparkling wines).
The single-guyot method involves taking a cane from the previous season’s growth. These are selected to form the fruiting arms, while the rest of the vine is trimmed back to the new wood that was green vegetative growth in the previous growing season. “All other growth is pruned back close to the old wood of the vine to ensure there are as few growth points as possible in areas we don't want them,” says Jon. We use this technique because it helps control yields and ensures even ripening of fruit.
“We ensure we are only pruning new or one-year-old wood,” says Jon. “This means we are limiting the chances of pathogens entering the vines' vascular system. Quality pruning choices year on year make it easier for this to happen. A badly pruned vine in year one makes it difficult to prune a vine in year two. We regulate the number of buds that are left on each vine so that we neither overstretch the vine nor make life too easy for it.”
Here for the long-term
Pruning at Gusbourne is more than just cutting back vines; it’s about making informed decisions for long-term vineyard health. “Hard pruning a weak vine may be necessary in order for it to recover and become healthy,” says Jon. “Hard pruning a vigorous vine means that vine produces more growth on fewer buds resulting in very thick shoots and resulting canes. This results in poor wood choice during pruning. Conversely, lightly pruning an under-vigorous vine results in very thin wood being produced for the following pruning season.
“Pruning is all about balance between fruit production and the vegetative growth which is needed to support that fruit.”
Despite technological advances in many areas of viticulture, there are some jobs for which there’s no substitute for the skilled eyes – and hands – of our vineyard team.
Each vine calls for an individual approach. "You prune the vine that's in front of you," says Adam. "Often, the decisions you'd make on one given day would be different on another depending on the sunlight, bud position, the way it's been pruned historically and so on." Mistakes can have long-term consequences, affecting not just the current season’s yield but the vine’s productivity for years to come.
"All the decisions we make are for the health of the plant," says Adam.
So, as we wait for spring’s welcome return, our team are hard at work. It’s in these quiet months that our season begins, and the foundation is laid for another exceptional vintage.
