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Of course, pruning by hand is labor-intensive and therefore more expensive than machine pruning, adding to the cost of the wine. However, some sites, particularly those situated on slopes rising up from a river—notably the Rhine in Germany or the Rhône in France—are too steep for machines to negotiate. wine styles growing vines 36 No short cuts Hand-pruning the vines is a slow, labor-intensive business but is vital to restrict the amount of growth the plants make. Of an abundance of potential shoots, often as few as only two or three per vine are retained to bear the crop.

Prone to frost than a clear one), but new, highertech, smoke-free heating systems have proved this not to be the case. Sometimes (but of course, much more expensively) helicopters are mobilized to hover above the vineyards, keeping the air moving so that frost cannot form. Vinegrowers may also use helicopters and sprinkler systems to spray water on to the vines (as in Chablis), which will freeze rapidly, creating little protective ice cocoons around the buds or grapes. anticipating danger So, vinegrowers will exert as much influence as they can on the climatic and weather conditions in their vineyards.

Tractors are a boon when bad weather is forecast and speed of harvest is vital. harvesting by hand These brightly colored plastic crates (facing page) are used in many areas in place of the more picturesque pickers’ baskets, but the traditional migration of seasonal workers and casual student labor following the vintage from region to region remains unchanged. ” bringing in the crop Of course, all the painstaking efforts of the vinegrower are geared toward producing optimumquality grapes at the harvest.