Or why we're doing everything differently again.
Cutting has to be learned. And of course we don't mean cutting your hair, although we wouldn't entrust our hair to everyone either. We are talking about pruning.
The pruning is the first work we have to do in our own vineyards. Since we want to do everything right from the start, we have - in the old WeinSchach manner - done some research of how vines can and should actually be pruned.
And so much in advance. We learned a lot from it. The pruning not only has an effect on the quality of the grapes that we want to harvest in autumn, it also has a decisive influence on the vitality and age of a vine. Wrong pruning can inflict wounds on the plant, making it susceptible to disease and weakening it. You can literally torture them to death.
That is why we decided on a very special cutting method: The "Simonit & Sirch Methode", which is often referred to as" gentle pruning ". The goal is to ensure the flow of sap from the vine and thereby strengthen it instead of weakening it. That sounds like an absolute win-win, doesn't it?
After a few YouTube videos and hours of reading (there is a basic work: "Simonit & Sirch Methodology - the vine pruning manual to limit trunk diseases") we started to cut the first vines in February.
Conclusion: It is a challenge to adapt the vines to the new pruning method. But we love challenges and with every cut, you know better what you are doing. We do not know whether we really made the right decision now, but in autumn when the harvest comes we will know how to continue. Because then our vines should be full of healthy grapes. Until then, however, there is still a fair amount of work to be done and that's why we better get going again!
Vinophile greetings,
Martina & Andreas