Vineyard Management Volunteers Needed: Sierra Foothills/El Dorado County, Sat-Sun, June 22-23
VOLUNTEER ON OUR VINEYARD (Sierra Foothills/El Dorado County)
Come, have fun, be outdoors, do a little pruning, have a bbq, drink some wine and learn a little about wine and the grapes that go into this precious nectar we all love and care about.
We will be working on one of our partnering vineyards on Sat-Sun, June 22-23. Start time, early! So plan to be out there starting at 8 AM!!
It’s spring and the vines are getting unruly! At this point we will be thinning the shoots and doing the task that is called “tucking and suckering”.
Thinning the shoots involves trimming out some of the vines at the cordon. When we pruned in the spring, we cut the vines back to three buds. This should have created three canes on each shoot. Now each cane (vine, really) is producing way too many bunches of grapes. They all fight each other for nutrients. So now, this time of year when the grapes are growing—we “thin the shoots” by cutting some of these canes/vines off.
Sucker Identification
Tucking and suckering involves taking all the fly-away vines that are flopping over the vineyard and tuck them into a wire along top of the trellis. Tucking them under the trellis wires—ergo “tucking.” Suckering involves cutting off any weird growth along the cordon/trunk of the vine that would allow another vine/shoot to grow. We cut these off with pruning sheers. These will potentially become grapevines that produce grapes. They rarely mature, so we cut them off so they don’t “suck” the life out of the ones that are already growing. We don’t want them to compete and steal the vital nutrients from the maturing vines.
This will be a fun and educational opportunity to lay your hands on these vines. Please be sure to bring a hat, sunglasses, layered clothing, so you don’t burn your arms or hands. As the weather is very unpredictable this time of year but it is usually HOT! Also be sure to bring appropriate shoes, we will be in the dirt of the vineyards, mind you! We will have tools, gloves, sunscreen and plenty of waters. We will provide a BBQ lunch and of course, wine!!
Good Pruning Technique
Again, come out—have fun, learn a little about the vineyard and help out our vintner tend to his beautiful vineyard at the very beginning stages of the growth cycle this year for the 2012 wine that will be made in the future!!
Address and directions will be given upon commitment to coming to this event as well as my cell phone number to assure no one gets lost. Please RSVP and let us know which days you would like to attend.
Please send us an email (info@calwineu.org) if you would like to attend and which day/days work best for you.
P.S. If you want to come and spend the night, we have rooms available at the vineyard but only a few. Some people are local, some drive in from a distance. Let us know!
Cheers!! And see you in the vineyard!
Barbara (barbara@calwineu.org)
Visit our website at: www.calwineu.org.
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