Pruning the Vines

So I've been getting a lot of questions about the abundance of snow we had this year and if it has affected the vines. So I thought I would address the issue of pruning. After the first hard freeze of the year the vines go into a state of hibernation and during that hibernation the boys are hard at work maintaining the vines. During the winter the vines are pruned or trimmed back.

Here are the vines in their wild state. It takes almost all winter to prune all 43 of our acres, but the quality of fruit that is produced from all that hard work is well worth it. Pruning has been described as an art form by many in the wine community since this is the basis for the rest of the growing season. Pruning too much can affect vines just as much as pruning too little.

 

After all that hard work (and might I say chilly work due to all the snow this year) the vines are trimmed beautifully! Now that all of the snow has melted the pruning is going much faster. So in conclusion, the snow is fine for the vines, in fact it is a good way to keep the plants in hibernation so they don't start budding too early in the season!