THE SEASONS IN THE VINEYARD
Spring disbudding
The aim of disbudding,
since we get spurs during winter pruning,
is we’d like those to double
for the following year.
We remove everything
that’s unnecessary on the wood,
except if we have a nice branch…
on the side for next year’s training.
If we have too many canes we split them…
and we remove all the weeds…
the plough can’t remove.
Afterwards, we’ll do the lifting,
and remove any small branches
that may have grown.
We make our way to the other vineyards…
Ladoix, Nuits Saint Georges,
and then Vosne Romanée,
and Clos de Bèze…
Here we’re in a Ladoix plot.
Ladoix Sérigny.
I care for 1 hectare.
It has 16 rows of white…
going from the forest
to the road,
and 18 rows of red.
It’s a plot which the Domaine…
took over a couple years ago,
I’m not sure exactly when.
Initially it required boosting,
because it was worn down:
we had to revive it,
training it according to
the vine’s strengths.
So then little by little
the plants got stronger.
Right now we’re disbudding.
We start
by training the vine to restructure it.
We try to keep the structure
while removing all the extra growth.
These days we were worried about frost,
because for a couple of days,
there was a risk of severe frost…
but it seems
not to have suffered too much.
A few vines did freeze,
but all in all it went well.
so now all we have to do
is wait to see how it grows…
I also have 1.6 hectares
at Savigny Les Beaunes.
The vineyard’s name is “La Gollarde”.
A beautiful spot.
Here we’re at
the Clos des Corvées, early May.
The winter pruning is done.
Spring is here…
so now it’s time for the disbudding.
The idea is to remove
any unnecessary buds.
Those which are in fact superfluous.
When we train,
we leave some of the buds
on the canes,
but more will appear later.
Sometimes there are two sprouts
that come from one bud,
and others grow from old wood,
so we remove them.
The idea is to promote airflow,
for the harvest to be properly aerated.
In organic farming, airflow is essential.
that grapes aren’t crowded together.
So the work of disbudding is done…
to reduce the grapes
so it can ripen properly.
It’s the prolongation of our disbudding,
really we’re refining things.
Here for example it’s too big a bunch,
so we’ll remove the largest part here,
and even this one…
That looks good.
It’s looks a little empty here,
but it’ll grow out…
we’ll have lovely grapes
that won’t touch each other,
it’ll be perfect…
We don’t leave much on the small vines…
so they can get stronger…
Better to sacrifice some of the harvest…
so the plants…
properly take root,
in particular the young vines,
during the first years…
Here for example
we have a bud that gave two.
It’s what we remove first
and then we space it out.
This vine is a bit misshapen
because of its history,
but we’ll keep this sprout,
the one here that grew spontaneously.
So by keeping it this may help it
to get some youthfulness back.
Cutting here to start a bit lower
and stay more in line with the row.
at least to maintain the separation
with the vines next to it.
When too many are growing too close,
we remove them…
If some look good we keep them…
Here is a special case:
there are only two spurs…
probably because we thought
it wasn’t vigorous enough last year,
probably a bit of stress,
so we cut it short.
That way it is revitalized
for the following year…
When it’s cut short
we leave very little,
to obtain some nice wood…
and a good set of canes next year.
If we don’t do anything,
we could leave it like this,
the risk is only a lot of twigs grow…
but which won’t reach the wires.
This could lead to lots of grapes
bunched together…
and so a high risk of having it rot.
Harvest also takes longer,
because we have to separate the grapes,
which are really small
and also all tangled up
together in the branches.
We can’t leave it all like this!
Some say I’m the best disbudder
here on the Côte De Nuit…
So, I’m Super Disbudder!
We’re at Clos des Varroilles,
in Gevrey-Chambertin,
May 5th, so this is disbudding season.
We remove the buds
growing on the vine stock.
They grow early spring,
and too many branches grow,
we disbud what needs disbudding.
This to clear some of the vegetation,
in order to avoid disease…
This is the period to check the flowering,
which occurs when the climate
doesn’t prevent it at the end of the year.
That’s the problem these days:
the climate.
It hailed yesterday, not a pretty sight.
We had stormy weather…
suddenly hail with no rain,
4-5mm in diameter,
which damaged the leaves:
all the big leaves have holes…
You see…
this is because of hail:
it’s split it in two,
and there are so many like that…
stop it!
With luck, if the weather’s nice…
the vine will recover.
But if not, there may be more damage,
some grape loss…
So we’ll have to see
in the next few weeks how it’ll be.
Otherwise,
the Clos des Varroilles
is doing wonderfully.
flowering everywhere,
the vine stock is healthier…
I think it’s reacting very well
to the Poussard pruning…
and the work we’re doing
on the vines is giving good results.
The aim of disbudding,
since we get spurs during winter pruning,
is we’d like those to double
for the following year.
We remove everything
that’s unnecessary on the wood,
except if we have a nice branch…
on the side for next year’s training.
If we have too many canes we split them…
and we remove all the weeds…
the plough can’t remove.
Afterwards, we’ll do the lifting,
and remove any small branches
that may have grown.
We make our way to the other vineyards…
Ladoix, Nuits Saint Georges,
and then Vosne Romanée,
and Clos de Bèze…
Here we’re in a Ladoix plot.
Ladoix Sérigny.
I care for 1 hectare.
It has 16 rows of white…
going from the forest
to the road,
and 18 rows of red.
It’s a plot which the Domaine…
took over a couple years ago,
I’m not sure exactly when.
Initially it required boosting,
because it was worn down:
we had to revive it,
training it according to
the vine’s strengths.
So then little by little
the plants got stronger.
Right now we’re disbudding.
We start
by training the vine to restructure it.
We try to keep the structure
while removing all the extra growth.
These days we were worried about frost,
because for a couple of days,
there was a risk of severe frost…
but it seems
not to have suffered too much.
A few vines did freeze,
but all in all it went well.
so now all we have to do
is wait to see how it grows…
I also have 1.6 hectares
at Savigny Les Beaunes.
The vineyard’s name is “La Gollarde”.
A beautiful spot.
Here we’re at
the Clos des Corvées, early May.
The winter pruning is done.
Spring is here…
so now it’s time for the disbudding.
The idea is to remove
any unnecessary buds.
Those which are in fact superfluous.
When we train,
we leave some of the buds
on the canes,
but more will appear later.
Sometimes there are two sprouts
that come from one bud,
and others grow from old wood,
so we remove them.
The idea is to promote airflow,
for the harvest to be properly aerated.
In organic farming, airflow is essential.
that grapes aren’t crowded together.
So the work of disbudding is done…
to reduce the grapes
so it can ripen properly.
It’s the prolongation of our disbudding,
really we’re refining things.
Here for example it’s too big a bunch,
so we’ll remove the largest part here,
and even this one…
That looks good.
It’s looks a little empty here,
but it’ll grow out…
we’ll have lovely grapes
that won’t touch each other,
it’ll be perfect…
We don’t leave much on the small vines…
so they can get stronger…
Better to sacrifice some of the harvest…
so the plants…
properly take root,
in particular the young vines,
during the first years…
Here for example
we have a bud that gave two.
It’s what we remove first
and then we space it out.
This vine is a bit misshapen
because of its history,
but we’ll keep this sprout,
the one here that grew spontaneously.
So by keeping it this may help it
to get some youthfulness back.
Cutting here to start a bit lower
and stay more in line with the row.
at least to maintain the separation
with the vines next to it.
When too many are growing too close,
we remove them…
If some look good we keep them…
Here is a special case:
there are only two spurs…
probably because we thought
it wasn’t vigorous enough last year,
probably a bit of stress,
so we cut it short.
That way it is revitalized
for the following year…
When it’s cut short
we leave very little,
to obtain some nice wood…
and a good set of canes next year.
If we don’t do anything,
we could leave it like this,
the risk is only a lot of twigs grow…
but which won’t reach the wires.
This could lead to lots of grapes
bunched together…
and so a high risk of having it rot.
Harvest also takes longer,
because we have to separate the grapes,
which are really small
and also all tangled up
together in the branches.
We can’t leave it all like this!
Some say I’m the best disbudder
here on the Côte De Nuit…
So, I’m Super Disbudder!
We’re at Clos des Varroilles,
in Gevrey-Chambertin,
May 5th, so this is disbudding season.
We remove the buds
growing on the vine stock.
They grow early spring,
and too many branches grow,
we disbud what needs disbudding.
This to clear some of the vegetation,
in order to avoid disease…
This is the period to check the flowering,
which occurs when the climate
doesn’t prevent it at the end of the year.
That’s the problem these days:
the climate.
It hailed yesterday, not a pretty sight.
We had stormy weather…
suddenly hail with no rain,
4-5mm in diameter,
which damaged the leaves:
all the big leaves have holes…
You see…
this is because of hail:
it’s split it in two,
and there are so many like that…
stop it!
With luck, if the weather’s nice…
the vine will recover.
But if not, there may be more damage,
some grape loss…
So we’ll have to see
in the next few weeks how it’ll be.
Otherwise,
the Clos des Varroilles
is doing wonderfully.
flowering everywhere,
the vine stock is healthier…
I think it’s reacting very well
to the Poussard pruning…
and the work we’re doing
on the vines is giving good results.