Jewell Towne Vineyards

Jewell Towne Vineyards, A day in the life of a local working New Hampshire winery.
Rich Collins, Jewell Towne Vineyards.

“So what do you do all winter at a winery, anyhow?” We hear that question quite frequently, and the answer unfortunately is not “We Travel!” Winter is one of the busiest times for us as it is the winemaker’s time to turn the fruits of the previous harvest into the final product.

Yet Spring is upon us, a time of renewal and rebirth, so I will focus on the primary vineyard task at hand: Pruning. Once the snow recedes to the point where we can readily access the vines, the pruning efforts begin. Vines need the winter to rest and restore, and the green canes of the previous year ‘harden off’ – which essentially means turn woody and form a bark-like protection. There’s a simple indicator for how old a vine's canes are – if they green and flexible – they're less than a year old, if they're brown and woody, it’s last year’s growth.

Note the Green, healthy first year growth (above) and the same canes hardened off (brown and woody) after winter (below).

Thus, our Spring begins with the following scene – windchill, mud, and remnants of snow on the ground, as our vineyard manager Derek begins the pruning season. The following scene is the harbinger of our Spring:

What we are left with is the previous years growth to contend with, clean up, and direct for the upcoming season. We want the vines to focus their energies on only those canes that will produce fruit (grapes) so we cut the vines back, almost severely, in a number of dedicated stages which I will discuss in some detail.

Stage 1 – The Rough Prune
In this stage we take the somewhat crazed looking vine and knock it back to a more workable model. Any dead wood, unhealthy canes, or rogue wandering tendrils are removed to leave us with a dozen or so top quality canes.

Before:

After:

Note that the vine still has a number of random canes at this point, but it becomes much more manageable for the next stages of pruning.

And let’s not forget it’s still pretty darn cold outside during this process - I've heard of the old saying 'there's frost on the pumpkin' but to see vine sap freeze solid is another story altogether! Have to love these cold New Hampshire springs!

Once the rough prune is complete, it’s time to pick up all the woody canes that aren’t of much use. Pure labor is the name of this game. The amount of wood removed is quite impressive!

Fortunately for us, everyone is involved in the pruning process - from friends of the winery, to interns, to the whole staff. It’s a fun way to ring in the New Hampshire spring.