Proper cold.

We aren’t super keen to get out and prune early on a frosty, freezing morning. But the views can make it worthwhile. Welcome to winter in Bannockburn.

What is pruning and why do we do it in the poltergeist cold of Winter?

Young vines are cared for constantly to ensure the plant grows as we need it to for its life ahead. Once we’re starting to get fruit off the vine (usually 3 seasons after a young vine is planted) we prune every year to reset the plant for the next season. During the Winter season the vines are dormant (the growth functions of the plant are suspended during the cold months). This gives us access to care for the vines when they are resting.

Left to its own devices, a grapevine is a pretty unruly creature. Pruning both shapes the plant and limits the potential crop it can carry. By pruning the vine, we can determine (to a degree) how many bunches of grapes we want that vine to produce for the following harvest. Like all aspects of vineyard management at Dicey, the climate, soil and vine age are all factors when deciding how we’re best to prune.

Pruning is a vital aspect of making wine. It’s not always the most pleasant moment in the vineyard, given some of the weather we typically cop during winter, but it does keep us connected to the land and the plants and is the moment we start planning the next harvest.

So, while we’re out there in a hoar frost with freezing fingers barely able to work the secateurs know that we’re already working with nature to ascertain just how your next bottle of Dicey wine might taste. It seems like a good time to reflect on the seasons already behind us with a glass of the cockle-warming 2019 Dicey Bannockburn Pinot Noir. If that doesn’t warm up the digits, nothing will.