Between the harvest and pruning, autumn work is perhaps the least known. While we are active in the cellar, there is no shortage of activities in the vineyards either. List (not exhaustive) of the work of October-November. After returning a more or less satisfactory harvest, the winemaker is taken by the work of the cellar. Throughout the autumn, the juice moults: vinification, ageing and blending occupy the farmers. Meanwhile, the leaves fall into the vineyards… but not only. Activity remains intense for most areas. On the program:
- Repairs. The stakes and iron wires, which serve to channel this vine that is the vine, undergo all year round the incessant passages of the wine machines. Even among the most rigorous, there is breakage… Autumn is the ideal time to replace broken pegs and deteriorated wires. The plot is then ready for pruning and spring work.
- Complantation. In a vineyard, it is not only the material that suffers. Over the course of a year, many feet die, affected by illness or tractor accidents. We must tear off those dead feet. Then, for those who want to keep their yield, replace them with young transplants. This is called complantation. It can also be performed in the spring.
- Pre-squabbling. The amount of wood cut during the pruning of a vine can reach 2 tons per hectare. We can imagine the amount of work… So why not get a little ahead of the curve? Some winegrowers practice pre-cutting in the fall. Manual or mechanical, it allows to quickly remove an unnecessary amount of wood, which will accelerate the work of pruning and drawing wood in winter.
