First Day of Pruning

Last Saturday 26th Feb we finally got started with the pruning. We’re running VERY late this year, as we usually start round about the end of January. We’re still in good time though. We ‘only’ have 2 hectares (5 acres) or 3000 vines to do, which is about 10 full days’ work for 1 person ( or 5 days for 2 people!)

We kicked off on a festive and educational note, so we didn’t actually get much pruning done! About 15 people came to help, to learn how to prune (*) and to see the vineyard, the winery and ‘meet the winemaker’!

All these people are part of a ‘Grupo de Consumo’, a group of people who get together to buy organic products directly from the producers. And among the products they buy, is my wine!

Juan explains how to prune

Lola covers her ears, as Juan gets ready to cut!

Panoramic view of the vineyard

David

Alvaro

Eva and Raquel

Ana

Myself

Scissors

We managed to prune about 100 vines in the course of the morning.

Then it was time for lunch, which we did at the bodega (winery). We make a giant paella, which – surprisingly - turned out perfect. It’s very difficult to cook a giant paella evenly, and usually there are patches where the rice is under-cooked and other parches where it’s burnt!

(pending: foto of giant paella)

Jorge and Dani

At the table

Orange wine

Down the hatch

(*) Here are some of the ‘technical criteria’ we follow, and tried to teach:

- Each vine is different, so the number of ‘thumbs’ to leave depends on its vigour, size and shape
- We leave only one ‘thumb’ at the end of each ‘arm’(sometimes two if the vine is very large or vigorous)
- We leave the ‘thumbs’ that point outwards from the centre, and prune any that point inwards or crosswise
- We prune away all shoots that are growing directly from the trunk or arms