We "pre-prune" the vines in February, removing last year's fruiting canes. We delay pruning until March. This allows us the longest possible period before we have to worry about frost, and therefore frost protection. It's the new buds that are at risk of frost damage, and by delaying pruning we slow down their development. We are on frost alert through May.



Here we're considering how we want to prune this vine. We look at its productivity last season, and how we can best balance its growth in the coming season. We always work on the same vine, one on each side. It takes us about 5 minutes per vine to complete pruning and tying down the fruiting canes.

Pruning usually takes us three to four weeks, in all kinds of weather.



Because we do the entire vineyard ourselves, we use electric shears, operated from a power pack worn on our backs.