Gino L. Filippi – Off the Vine

Winter brings peace and tranquility to the vineyard - which is why it remains one of one my favorite seasons.

The vines are at rest, saving energy for warmer days ahead. For the past several weeks, workers throughout the state have been busy pruning and carefully cutting back growth and wood to shape the vine for the future.

Pruning is recommended after the leaves fall, generally starting in late fall as timing affects the time of bud break in spring. The cooler weather the better is the general consensus among vintners.

I remember hearing post full moon is best.

Roman author and naturalist Pliny the Elder wrote, “All kinds of cutting, picking, or shearing are accomplished with less damage during the waning moon than when the moon is on the increase.”

Grapevines are quite vigorous, growing to a dense mass of mostly older wood with relatively little “fruiting wood” each year. Ideal pruning removes 80 to 90 percent of the previous year’s growth each winter.

Grapes bear fruit on the green shoots that arise from one-year-old canes. Old canes that produced fruit at previous harvest season will not yield again.

Rancho Cucamonga resident Henry Corrado recently volunteered to prune a small vineyard along the Pacific Electric Trail.

“I find pruning to be enlightening and rewarding. I look forward to planting this spring. I’m going to start my own home vineyard from the cuttings,” said Corrado.

Cucamonga Valley vintner Mario DiCarlo used “head-trained” and “spurpruned” techniques traditional to our region when planting his vineyard in 2016 at the Root 66 Garden in Rancho Cucamonga.

Head-trained vines are free-standing that is, they grow without support of a wire trellis, but a wood stake instead. The trunk will grow about 24 to 36 inches high with a number of permanent arms (much like a tree rose) that are positioned around the main trunk of the vine that bear spurs.

The Aggazzotti-DiCarlo family has grown grapes in our region since the early 1900s.

“Old-vine care and preservation is my passion. We planted Zinfandel, Grenache, Mission and Palomino cuttings from local vineyards that have been here for nearly 80 years,” said DiCarlo.

Gino L. Filippi is wine writer for Foothills Reader. He can be reached at Ginoffvine@aol.com.