Viticulture
Training systems
How a vine is shaped and supported, and why the answer differs by climate.
Overview
Trellised systems (guyot, cordon, VSP) hold shoots upright on wires, exposing leaves to light and allowing machinery through the rows.
Bush vines (gobelet) stand free without wires, with the canopy shading the fruit. Well suited to hot, dry, windy places — the Barossa, Swartland, Priorat, southern France.
Pergola systems lift fruit high off the ground, which suits humid regions like Vinho Verde by improving air circulation and reducing rot.
The choice is driven by sunlight, disease pressure, mechanisation and local tradition, in roughly that order.
Sources
Sources consulted
- WSET educational materials and the Systematic Approach to Tasting — Wine & Spirit Education Trust
More in the vineyard
Viticulture
Climate and wine style
The largest single influence on what a wine tastes like — larger than grape, producer or winemaking, and the reason the same variety is unrecognisable in two places.
Viticulture
Climate change and wine
Warming is already reshaping where wine is grown and what it tastes like.
Viticulture
Harvest and picking decisions
When to pick — the single most consequential decision a producer makes each year.