Louis Latour Agencies

Winter in the Vineyards at Domaine Louis Latour

27 February 2023

Every year in November, when the vines become dormant, the team of the Domaine grab their secateurs to prune back the previous years fruit bearing branches. Pruning (taille) is one of the most important periods of work of the vine growing cycle which permits each vine to recuperate and prepare for a new growing season.

At Louis Latour, pruning is done by hand. Each vine is pruned using the Guyot simple method. In the past few years, Louis Latour has adopted a two-step pruning approach to protect the vines from an early frost threat that is ever present at the beginning of the growing season. The first step is that all vine canes from the previous year are pruned back except for the first fruit-bearing vine shoot, called the cane (la baguette). It is important to leave a large number of buds on the first fruit bearing branch to help hedge against frost damage.

The new growth and buds toward the ends of this branch allows the desired ’middle’ and ‘lower’ section buds to escape the damage by frost thereby assuring that enough buds will grow into new fruit bearing branches for the coming year. The other shoot opposite the baguette, which is called the spur (le courson), is pruned much shorter. After the periods of frost have passed, the second step of pruning is done to remove the extra shoots (still in bud form) that are no longer needed. The first long branch (baguette) will be pruned back to six buds, while the spur will be cut back to two buds, which will become the baguette and the courson for the following year. The cut canes are collected from the rows of vines after pruning (sarmentage) to be ground up. The dry matter is composted together with grape marc (from fermentation) and manure, which is later placed back into the soil between the rows of vines.

 

A FEW WORDS ABOUT OUR VINES IN ARDECHE Pruning is in full swing on the Chardonnay vines of Ardèche! The vines on the hillsides were pruned first in order to allow the plots on the plains, which are more sensitive to frost, to rest. The Chardonnay vines are looking in good shape, showing vines that suffered relatively little during the season despite the exceptional drought experienced in the 2022 vintage. Winter started with fairly mild temperatures with a good replenishment from underground water reserves. A dry beginning of the year has meant we have been able to begin preparing the soils early. The current night frosts allow the date of bud burst to be delayed.... We hope that this will last until the end of March!

This is an update from Maison Louis Latour, Beaune.