Experimenting with Tradition: Vine Training

By Austin Collins

There is no doubt that most everything we do in the vineyard has been done before. The invention and implementation of new technology, equipment, and products (fungicides, etc.) bring some novelty to viticulture, but the methods used on the ground and in the vines are age-old. The pruning and training of vines is no exception to this. Due to the varying climates, varietals, and traditions, each region throughout the world has its preferred method of training vines. The most common pruning styles we see here in Paso are: spurred cordon, guyot (cane pruning), and goblet (head-trained). These are of course the most customary methods globally. In Burgundy and Bordeaux, the guyot is most frequently used. Chateauneuf du Pape allows three styles, with the goblet being its most famed. The deeper you dive, the more methods you will find—the Taille Chablis in Champagne, the Echalat in Condrieu, or the elusive Palmette in Provence.

Each pruning method is tailored to the region, some even having rules for what is allowed. Here, we are free to go off the book and find unique ways to prune that suit our needs, but doing so in a conservative manner as to protect our end goal. That being said a majority of our vines fall in these main categories. The most common you will see here is the double-cordon:

This vine was one of the first Grenache vines to be planted on the property in 1992, even before the Beaucastel cuttings were approved to be planted. One of the few blocks planted to non Beaucastel clones.

We use the spurred double cordon for its production efficiency and ease of management. This trellising system turns a three-dimensional plant into something more two-dimensional, allowing for the freer flow of air through the vine and the exposure of both sides of the vine to the sun’s light. These factors reduce mildew pressures, allow even ripening, and make it easy to see the crop at a glance. For this reason, it is our most widely used training method. Once the plant has gained enough strength after a few years in the ground, you can begin to "train" it down onto the wire. This wood will serve as the structural and vascular system, supplying each spur with everything it needs to support each year’s growth. As you can see, we average three to four spurs on either side and strive to allow them to grow slowly upward with time. As the canopy grows, it is kept in place with the catch wires above. Now, this is the ideal specimen, and no vine looks the same. Part of the beautiful divergency of nature.

We do employ another common method that utilizes the VSP system: the Guyot or cane-pruned method. Like the spurred cordon, this can be done as a single side or double. This is one example of the double guyot on a hilltop Syrah vine.

We lay down one-year old growth with about 15 buds on each side along with one to two "renewal" spurs for next year’s cane. Ideally the renewal is positioned on the main branch below the cane being laid down. This is both for the production of the "branch" and balancing the growth of the vine, each year only laying down one-year-old wood. We use the Guyot method on Syrah and Viognier due to their growing habits of producing long and plentiful vegetative growth and the fact that their most productive buds are at the end of the previous year’s canes.
Around 40% of our vineyard is pruned in a head-trained manner. In these blocks, we are farming without irrigation (also known as dry farming) and do so in a style much like that of walnut growers in the area. You might be expecting that we use the conventional “gobelet” style popular in Chateauneuf du Pape but we’ve realized that our conditions are better suited for a modified head-trained style more like a vertical cordon, also known as the Lodi Ladder to some in the Central Valley. A traditional gobelet pruning cuts a vine back to 6 or 8 arms that reach up from a central trunk and are cut back relatively close to the ground. That’s great in a place like Chateauneuf where you’re trying to make use of the radiant heat absorbed by the rocks during the day to allow more ripening in their more northerly latitude, and when you can plant dry-farmed vines closer together because you get rain year-round.

In Paso Robles, we get plenty of heat, so getting the ripening fruit further from the ground is preferable, and our rain is so concentrated during the winter months that having fewer, more robust vines is better than having more but smaller vines. So we plant our vines farther apart to limit competition and train them up higher, producing more spur positions and more production per vine. This creates a stronger vine that is less susceptible to disease, therefore allowing it to live longer. Hence the fact that the oldest vineyards in the world are head trained! Here is a look at a Grenache vine in our westernmost block Crosshairs:

These vines are trained to stakes that are around five feet tall. Ideally, they are trained up vertically year by year creating spur positions (branches) along the way. We try not to push them too hard, especially when they are young, but once mature, they average between 9-12 spurs per vine. This method suits our farming practices and keeps the vines out of the way of the tractor, not growing too far into the space between vines. It also allows the vine to grow more naturally and less restrictedly, allowing it to grow where it wants to. We have actually converted vines from the traditional goblet method to a vertical cordon in an effort to grow out and above the frost zone. Here is a look at the hybridized style in a Tannat vine:

As you can see on the bottom half of the vine, there are a handful of spurs all around the trunk that are a similar height off the ground. This was the old structure. We were getting hit with frost more often than we liked, so we decided to try and raise the vine out of the low-lying area. We still experience frost damage from time to time on the lower branches, but the growth on top tends to remain untouched.

There are many ways to prune a vine (you can use that instead of the old "to skin a cat"), and it depends on where you are and what you are trying to accomplish. We will continue experimenting and mixing different methods when the opportunity presents itself. I believe it is good to question everything, especially when we are too comfortable with it, it may lead somewhere better, it may not. But continuing to wonder is part of the progression and fun of what we do. I will leave you with a photo of a TRIAL of a hybrid between a single cordon and single guyot, we will see how it goes!