Bodegas Vega de Yuco the vineyard prepares for a new life cycle
We walked among the vines and souks of the Bodegas Vega de Yuco vineyards, accompanied by the field team that is finalizing the pruning work in the only holes that still remain to be prepared.
Some works that began at the end of January and that have been completed in just one month. In Lanzarote, just as we have one of the earliest harvests in Europe, which is carried out in the summer months, pruning is usually done after the leaves fall in February and during the winter rest, before budding. . At this point in the vegetative cycle in which we find ourselves and the vineyard is still resting, it is time to remove the leaf that falls to the bottom of the vine, to avoid a possible and subsequent focus of infection, and prune the vines facing the spring, which will cause the vines to reactivate with the rise in temperatures and come out of said rest.
With the care and determination of those who know each of the vines and listen to what each of them tells them, the field team proceeds to cut, partially or totally, some organs of the vineyard, such as the branches.
Since the fall of the leaf, we have waited a reasonable time to carry out the pruning, with the aim that the plant accumulates the necessary reserves for the next stage and that the strain does not weaken. A factor that the Lanzarote winegrower takes into account when pruning, also influenced by a hot and dry climate like ours that transmits a lot of vigor to the vines. On the contrary, if it were pruned when the vines have already sprouted, we would weaken the vineyard that has already begun to mobilize its reserves, although sometimes it happens that with warm winters, like the one we have this year, an improvement effect can be produced in the sprouting
A year has passed since the last pruning, a complete cycle in the vineyard.
A year has passed since the last pruning, a complete cycle in the vineyard.
There are several reasons, but above all to extend the life of the plant and guide its growth; give it a certain form in its early years, which facilitates the subsequent work that will be carried out on it; to produce as regular and constant an annual harvest as possible; and to regulate fruiting, making the clusters increase in size, improve their quality and, above all, make them ripen well. Through pruning we can also control the vigor of the vine, adjusting its dimensions to the cultivation system, in our case in holes or in rows, placing the island's own varieties, such as Malvasía Volcánica, Listan Negro, Diego or Moscatel, in the best possible conditions of insolation and aeration.
Likewise, for pruning work, it is essential to take into account some criteria when choosing the branch that is subjected to this winter pruning. The vine shoot is the long, thin, flexible and gnarled shoot that grows each year from the buds born from wood that is more than a year old. This pruning consists of eliminating the shoots of the year and leaving only a few properly pruned, from which the future shoots of the next harvest will sprout.
Likewise, for pruning work, it is essential to take into account some criteria when choosing the branch that is subjected to this winter pruning. The vine shoot is the long, thin, flexible and gnarled shoot that grows each year from the buds born from wood that is more than a year old. This pruning consists of eliminating the shoots of the year and leaving only a few properly pruned, from which the future shoots of the next harvest will sprout.
After pruning, the cycle continues, with the so-called weeping that will mark the beginning of the new activity of the roots, after the winter break.
Arrived at the month of March in Lanzarote, when the buds begin to swell and their protective scales open, giving way first to the flock and then to the growth of the shoot, the so-called bursting occurs, which in this 2020 has been advanced on our island until in fifteen days. Once the bud has broken, the growth phase begins, distinguishing a growth of the shoots and the appearance of leaves and other organs. During this phase, flowering, fruit set and fruit development also take place, the well-known veraison phase and with this the beginning of ripening.
Finally, we enter the withering phase. This is the phase in which the branches begin to take on a woody appearance, hardening and normally ceasing their growth. Afterwards, the harvest is carried out and the subsequent fall of the leaf. Between the harvest and the fall of the leaf, the vineyard continues to accumulate reserves that will be used for the following year's sprouting, so the leaf must be kept in the vineyard as much as possible until this moment of pruning, which in Lanzarote We do in the month of February.
All a meticulous and studied field work that, supported by the winery's technical team and oenologists, is carried out every year to obtain a raw material of extraordinary quality that results in unique white, rosé and red wines.
Infographic: blog Verema
