Friday night fun in the wine business

Grape vines are taking off across Oregon. At Sunnyridge Vineyard, the new shoots are 6-12” long. Along with this desirable growth, comes unwanted growth.

The plants are so eager to grow that they push out new shoots from every possible place along the plant.

The desirable growth comes as new shoots originating along the cane tied horizontally to the lowest trellis wire. These shoots will bear fruit and form the vine canopy.

Unwanted growth are shoots that sprout anywhere else on the plant. These come out of the vertical plant trunk, or from shallow roots near the plant base.

I spent a couple hours last Friday night crawling around Sunnyridge Vineyard removing unwanted shoots. This is a hands-on process, with every plant inspected and the shoots removed. At least it didn’t rain.

And they say the wine business is romantic…