They call it 'respectful pruning' and it is a twist on the past: in the face of aggressive mutilation that makes the vineyard sick and shortens its life, the new pruning collects the best of tradition that allows the plant to grow freely and adapts it to the present circumstances. The solution to ensure the longevity of the vine was always there, inscribed in its wood, in the small cuts made by the ancestors. From excessive castration to freedom of growth, some viticulturists and pruners have been able to read in the vineyard what it needs and how to manage it properly, they disseminate and communicate it and are the actors of a growing trend towards a new, more sustainable and profitable pruning. Within a global paradigm shift, both agricultural and consumer, the world of wine is not far behind.
“Not letting the plants grow is what has ended up killing them. In recent years, we have made many reflections and we have focused on learning the lessons that our ancestors have left us in the vines”, explains the viticulturist and arborist Julián Palacios, from Viticultura Viva. “The vine has vascular systems through which water and nutrients circulate. Pruning causes wounds in these systems, which form points of interruption of the sap circulation. Because the vine is a liana and creeps, it must necessarily be pruned every year as a domestication system, and for this reason it is very important that the wounds we cause do not harm it”.
"Since the end of the 20th century, little attention was paid to pruning and we saw the results very quickly: the plants aged prematurely and various diseases of the wood appeared." Palacios – who has collaborated with his partner Bárbara Sebastián and the viticulturist Roc Gramona in the translation of the manual Good pruning practices (Futuro Viñador, 2023), a work that includes the research carried out by François Dal, from the Interprofessional Advisory Service Agronomía, de Vinificaciones y Análisis (SICAVAC) of the Centro-Loire Interprofessional Wine Council – upon seeing the problems that appeared in the vineyard, he reflected: "Either we are going crazy or something happens so that the 20-year-old vines are dying and those of 60 or 100 are very good ”.
Looking back and learning from traditional systems was key. “In Spain there is a lot of culture about viticulture. Columela (1st century AD), one of the great disseminators of agronomy of antiquity, affirmed that the most important task in a vineyard was pruning the vine, as did Gabriel Alonso de Herrera (1470-1539) and Nicolás García. of the Salmons (1865–1942). It should not be a coincidence that centuries later, around the 18th century, all aspects of pruning in Sanlúcar were documented in such depth that, as Luis Pérez and Ramiro Ibáñez say, it is almost a philosophy”.
According to Palacios –who is trying to coin the term 'vitologist' to refer to a winery's viticulture technician–, we forgot these pruning systems to introduce low-cost pruning. “The traditional Spanish system, with its ups and downs, had been responding to the needs of each moment, but there was a break with the large-scale installation of mechanization, with the so-called green revolution and with the entry of mass media of information towards the 80s”. Traditional vineyards became modern vineyards.
“My grandfather pruned following the family tradition and my father maintained that before it was planted with the main objective so that the vine would last a long time. But there came a time when old vineyards were reviled, the sector became more technical and a golden promise of more production, increased exploitation, or that it would report greater profitability appeared. Even from Europe, the grubbing of old vineyards and Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Chardonnay was encouraged. But the profitability did not arrive: in the grape for wine, the quality of the wine is compromised in order to increase the yields of the vineyard. As for pruning, a lot was cut and the less it cost, the better.
“Personally, I realized something –says Palacios–: I, who am an agronomist by training, realized that I was being too much an engineer and not too much an agronomist. The viticulturist of the first winery where I worked, in Coruña del Conde, Alberto López Calvo, who had worked in France for years fleeing the Civil War, told me: 'Julián, where is your agronomy?' Now I am going out more to the vineyard with my father, to listen to him and the older viticulturists of the town, who have felt invalidated for a long time. Recovering these techniques results in a more balanced vineyard, a longer life expectancy, more heterogeneous, and healthier. To plan, we have more certainties and not having dead vineyards is much more profitable and sustainable. The artisan vineyard sector that truly practices sustainability is the one that provides the greatest added value to the consumer, the territory and the country. They are small projects that teach us very interesting paths and with a vocation to last”.
In a way, one of the main objectives of pruning was lost in oblivion, which is twofold: in the short term, preparing the plant for the following campaign and, in the long term, making it survive for many years. The highly mutilating pruning was inscribed in the plant and although its results do not take long to be seen, dissecting the vine and subjecting it to an autopsy convinces the incredulous. Cut lengthwise, a vine that has been aggressively pruned shows a large percentage of dead wood, food for various plant diseases, such as tinder fungus (Stereum hirsutum and Phellinus igniarius). "The Spanish-vineyard dictionary does not exist, but plants also speak to us because we carve them, we sculpt them," says Palacios, creator of the podcast La Filoxera and whose company filmed the multi-award-winning documentary Las podas olvidadas (2018).
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They call their pruning 'respect pruning' or, more technically, 'branching pruning', "which is the opposite of 'castration pruning' which limits the plant to a small space. With the first, small cuts are applied and the development of the structure of the plant is allowed, adapting to the requirements of each region and the objectives of each winery”. They came to the conclusion that letting the plant grow, causing fewer and much lesser injuries, was the best thing for the plant. They learned it the hard way: “in Friuli, the region where one of the founders, Marco Simonit, is from, there are two grape varieties that are very sensitive to tinder, Sauvignon blanc and one of its relatives, Friulano. Poor pruning creates a great food source for this fungus, against which there is no legal solution – arsenic was banned in Italy in 1977 – as it works from inside the wood. The only thing that can be done is to act in prevention”.
Guidici affirms that the well-pruned plant has a better lymphatic system, which prepares it for water stress from year to year, despite suffering from extreme weather conditions, and improves its longevity. “We have worked with different universities to objectively verify the resilience of the plants pruned with our method. After 10 or 15 years, a bad pruning turns between 50% and 80% of a plant into dry and corky wood. With our method, only 5% of wood is generated at most”. This master pruner agrees with Palacios: "vineyards have been managed without stepping on them, from an excel data from a computer, applying phytosanitary products that work with precision. Long before, you had empirical knowledge without knowing all the concrete details. Today we combine a refined analysis of the data with a careful observation of the plant”.
As happened to Palacios, Roc Gramona, from L'Enclòs de Peralba and a pruning teacher, observed with his father, Jaume Gramona, from the Gramona winery in Penedes, that the vines were dying prematurely. "Issues! We were doing something wrong ”, he comments. His father had the opportunity to meet Simonit
Inspired by the pruning academies of Champagne and Loire, the Gramona family decided to create their own, which Roc Gramona has directed since 2018 and which has spread throughout Spain and Portugal. “There was a need in the sector, since it is very harmful that the vines last less. Currently, leading wineries such as Vega Sicilia, Comando G, the leading wineries of the Penedès and other projects with concerns are applying this new, more respectful pruning. And we see it: its vegetation is more regular even in years with little rainfall, and there are no imbalances in production either, while if the vine is badly cut, everything on it sinks in years with complicated weather conditions. It is one more grain of sand in terms of management to guarantee the health of the plant”.
From Sanlúcar, the viticulturist and oenologist Ramiro Ibáñez (Elevation 45), tells how the pruning that has traditionally been done in the area is one that allows the free growth of the vine. “It is the so-called 'stick and thumb' pruning, a mixed pruning with two arms that alternate annually between a short thumb with one bud and a long stick with about 7 or 8 buds. Unlike other mixed prunings, in this one the arms are developed forming spirals that each turn in one direction, respecting the sap flow as much as possible, avoiding being a linear pruning”. Chosen for being the identity pruning of the area, Ibáñez affirms that it is also the most suitable for both the Listán or Palomino variety and for the type of wine he is looking for.
“The stick and thumb pruning is a pruning of respect. It allows, on the one hand, to have very fine grapes and more elegant wines. And, on the other, it ensures that the vineyard survives in the best conditions in very poor soils”, points out the oenologist. "Our challenge is to maintain this type of pruning, which is a true wine-growing heritage of Spain, protect it and disseminate its knowledge in other places, and it has elements that are applicable to other regions inside and outside our country."
Ibáñez says that pruning is for him an apprenticeship in which he is still immersed, and that he has learned thanks to the knowledge of great local viticulturists. “On a personal level, a pruning with the complexity and demand in knowledge like this, generates a greater empathy with the vine. It forces you to put yourself in her place, and try to take care of her as well as possible. I owe a lot to having pruned for many years with different strains and schools of mayetos”.
Asked about the interest that a new pruning is generating, Palacios maintains that "there is a growing and unstoppable trend of this new pruning because there is great interest in taking good care of the vineyards. A large part of the sector is very well informed and knows that unique projects need sustainability and profitability, and this respectful pruning is the tool to achieve it. Besides, there is no other possible option: the seams of the planet are bursting on all sides. Going this way is a path to the precipice. The change is already happening and will continue to do so, and we have no choice, so the sooner we accept it, the better. This is an opportunity to adapt aspects of our lives and continue generating positive impacts, such as rural development and generational change”.
Although Guidici affirms that there is still a long way to go in viticulture training and students who want to learn, Simonit courses
For Gramona, the new pruning is in fashion and this is interpreted positively. "Faced with the evidence that poorly pruned plants begin to die after 10 years, respectful pruning is providing quality content and solving a widespread problem throughout the sector." However, in the work of training him, he finds some reticent: "it is difficult to change the mind of someone who has practiced the same type of pruning for 50 years. On the other hand, training generates a cost and being a pruner is poorly paid, so that the sector is not very professional. It is a vicious circle".
