This is not the ideal way of handling vines, but economy sometimes make you push the limit. This is a block Nouvelle – 16 years old, 1.85 hectares and grafted with Richter 99 rootstock. The previous trellis system was VSP (Vertical Shoot Positioning). This produced only 12tonnes per hectare – not enough to make good money. So, how can we get more tonnes, without reducing quality?
With so many different trellis systems out there, which one do you choose? Mechanical pruning is not an option. Guyot wont work on Nouvelle. But Smart-Dyson will. The problem – the cordon is only 650mm from the ground and with Smart-Dyson you need at least 900mm. So we had to improvise. Last year we took the middle shoot and tied it onto a new cordon wire, now 1000mm high, like you would a young vine. We let that grow in the season. This year we put those shoots on the new cordon and chopped off the old cordon (sounds easier than it was). And there you have it, a brand new Smart-Dyson block Nouvelle, ready for another 16 years.
