Guest Blogger: Tyrrel Myburgh

Tyrrel Myburgh

 

Pruning can be a deeply rewarding and magical experience. It’s a time to contemplate
previous harvests and ponder those to come. It feels like you’re making a fresh start. Most
of the previous season’s growth is removed and the few carefully selected shoots that
remain will carry the crop for the next harvest. It can feel a bit cruel to cut off the shoots
that bore delicious grapes and I sometimes wonder if each vine doesn’t deserve a thank
you hug before its excess shoots are severed.

 

Pruning Cabernet Sauvignon (planted 1999) with Table Mountain in background

 

It takes time and commitment to hone the craft of pruning. Once the pruner has learned
all the principles and has a few years of experience it becomes a very intuitive,
rhythmical process. The brain and the hand (and perhaps the heart) seem to dance to the
same beat as the vine becomes smaller and the pruned shoots drop to the ground. Once
the final cut has been made there is no turning back. By the end of August most of the
pruning on Joostenberg will be complete and in mid-September the first spring shoots will start appearing.
Young and old vines are treated quite differently. The young vines need a bit of guidance
and shaping. If a young vine is pruned poorly the consequences will last a lifetime! The
old vines are set in their ways and need to be treated in a gentler, less manipulative
manner. Their character has been formed and it can be harmful to force changes. With
old vines it is especially crucial to avoid big cuts because they can cause life threatening wounds.
The pruner assesses each vine and selects a small number of shoots, normally 7-10, from
the previous season’s growth. These are cut back to short stubs and all other shoots are
removed. Each stub has 2 or 3 buds and the next season’s shoots will sprout from them.
It’s not quite as easy as it sounds because the pruner needs to consider things like the
vigour and age of the vine and the position of these two-bud-spurs in terms of air-flow,
sunlight exposure and general balance of the vine.

 

2024 pruning team: Brendan, Tyrrel, Gavino, Donavan, Bronvin, Thuilswa, Kyle and Fred (absent: Vimbai)

 

It has become quite normal in vineyards all over the world to use temporary employees
or contract services to do the winter pruning. This has advantages in terms of minimizing
costs but at Joostenberg we have moved in the other direction and all our pruners are
employed on a full-time basis. Growing organic grapes and making fine wine is a team
sport and we are investing time and effort into building a great team! We are very
fortunate that in our farming team we have many talented and conscientious pruners.
The most experienced pruner, Fred Wanie, has notched up more than 40 winters of
pruning!
Pruning our 80 000 vines is the most important task on Joostenberg at the moment but
there are many other things on the go as well.

 

All the best
Tyrrel Myburgh

 August 2024