Lyre

lyre, a vine-training system whereby the canopy is divided horizontally into two curtains of upward-pointing shoots and which resembles a lyre in shape (see illustration). The system was developed in Bordeaux in the early 1980s by Dr Alain Carbonneau, now Professor of Viticulture at montpellier. Carbonneau was much influenced by the pioneering studies of Nelson shaulis in canopy management. The lyre system improves the canopy microclimate and leads to improvement in yield and wine quality because of better leaf and fruit exposure to sunlight. Either spur pruning or cane pruning can be used. Further use of this system has been delayed by the unavailability of suitable mechanical harvesters. The system is being adopted in New World vineyards in particular, especially in California, and to a lesser extent in Australia, New Zealand, Chile, and Uruguay, but it has also been trialled in Beaujolais.