Laying the Foundation for the Future

As the southern hemisphere settles into winter, the cold, crisp months of July and August are bustling with activity in the high altitude mountain vineyards of Bodega Catena Zapata. As the vines sleep, our vine growers are busy with the tasks of winter pruning. 

Often overlooked when addressing vineyard management techniques, winter pruning is of the utmost importance in laying the foundation for a successful vintage. Such essential characteristics as vine vigor, crop load and balance, and canopy profile are defined at this time. As Luis Reginato, Catena Zapata Assistant Vineyard Manager notes, "The pruning process is one of the most important periods in successful vineyard management. Here we set the stage for next year's harvest."

With the majority of Catena Zapata vineyards pruned to the Double Guyot system, the most important aspect of winter pruning is cane selection. Our highly trained vine growers must carefully analyze each plant, selecting the best cane to serve as next year's loader. Such characteristics as cane thickness, important in establishing vine vigor, bud quantity and spacing, essential for achieving a balanced crop, and cane position, crucial to ensure a full, even canopy, must be taken into consideration. The selected cane is then gently laid to sleep, horizontally across the lowest wire, in parallel with the ground, waiting for next season's budbreak.