17/04/2025
Pruning 2025
Every phase brings a renewed challenge: the very, very young and the very, very old.
This year was the time to begin training the baby pergola—laying a solid foundation for the future, with the utmost care to build its architectural structure in the strongest way possible.
At the same time, most of our energy was focused on the old vines, whose rejuvenation we started three years ago.
The idea is to build young wood onto a 60-year-old root system, while preserving the genetic and epigenetic identity of the vines.
What’s curious about the pergola system is that the exposed wood surface is exponentially greater than in any other training system, and the plant’s sap-pumping mechanism must travel much longer routes to reach the foliar wall.
Due to the recurring dry seasons of recent years, many sap channels have been permanently blocked through xylem embolism. It made me grateful that we began this work early, allowing new wood to form and preserve function.
On the old vines, the vision we’re pursuing is to continue building new, functional wood that benefits from the strength and advantages of a deeply established root system.
It’s taken an enormous amount of time and energy—an act of preservation and care for the preciousness of these vines.
The young and the old, the utmost of cares needed, just like when I come home to grandfather makes me understand that every beginning and every end are not that far apart and that makes me see this with a different perspective and in my eyes I see the fragility and the potential, things to touch delicately.
Pruning season lasted late this year. April 4th was the final day.
Within the swinging emotions and long hours, there were: never-before-seen blossoms, vineyard plant mapping, the winner for best mid-morning pruning snack—fresh zabaione and Roulot’s abricot. Lots of laughs, and salsa - with the best team.