California sprawl

Appears in
Oxford Companion to Wine

By Jancis Robinson

Published 2006

  • About

California sprawl, term commonly used to describe the canopy of a vine trained on a simple trellis system although such systems are not restricted to California. It generally refers to a trellis with a single fruiting wire plus one foliage wire above this, though there are some variations. This results in a sprawling vine without rigorous shoot positioning. This inexpensive form of training can lead to a shaded canopy with poor bud fruitfulness and increased vegetative growth. Such vine forms are more typically seen in vineyards in hotter parts of California’s central valley and are also common in the inland irrigation regions of Australia. See also canopy management.