Jancis Robinson

Aims of pruning

Appears in
Oxford Companion to Wine
Oxford Companion to Wine

By Jancis Robinson

Published 2006

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Among the early aims of vine pruning as practised by the Ancient Egyptians would have been to increase the size of individual berries and bunches, an important consideration even today in the production of table grapes. A vine which is lightly pruned has many buds and will produce numerous bunches with small berries.

Another aim of vine pruning is to establish or maintain a shape of vine, which makes all other vineyard operations easier. For example, keeping vines pruned back to a more or less constant structure means they can easily be neatly trained in rows. Otherwise, vines would sprawl and quickly cover the space between rows.