"'The VSP system is a dinosaur at this point,' Bryan Babcock, the winemaker at Babcock Winery & Vineyards, in the Sta. Rita Hills, said in an article for Wine-Searcher, 'because it exposes the fruit to too much sun and maximizes labor and fuel consumption.'” ☝ Primary reasons I've been advocating different trellis designs in Texas for years now! Why on earth are we using VSP in a HOT, HIGH altitude, HIGH UV, DRY growing region...??? It makes no sense! Our primary issue IN TX High Plains AVA has always been sun OVER exposure to fruit (sunburn, raisin) due to the extreme heat (110*F+) and extreme UV intensity (3,000'+ elevation). Dappled sunlight with single high wire or California sprawl canopies tend to do MUCH better for us and produce more balanced fruit (especially red grapes). "Adam Casto, the head winemaker at Ehlers Estate, in St. Helena, is moving to high-wire trellises as he replants part of the property’s 42-acre vineyard, planted predominantly to Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc, and Petit Verdot. 'There’s been a pretty decisive move away from VSP over the last 10 years or so, but especially over the last five,' he says. 'The vast majority [of growers] are either bringing up the fruiting wire or converting to cane pruning altogether. Climate change is increasingly the reason.'” While 98%+ of our acreage is in single high wire trellising, we do have ~15 acres still set up in VSP. We actually use our existing VSP trellising to make a modified California sprawl system as we have moveable catch wires. Only one pair is lifted to tuck cane growth at a much shallower angle, producing something similar to a Cali sprawl. Works MUCH better and can still be adjusted as needed for each variety's growth habit. Quotes from Virginie Boone's article "California’s Trellising Systems Adapt with the Times" published July 3, 2024. Link below, please go read it! https://lnkd.in/gdXziCEV Texas Vine Country FermForge 🍇 TEXAS LEGACY VINES #TexasVineyards #TexasWine #GrapeReturns
It's surprising to me that more vineyards have not focused on the natural rise and fall of the sun (veraison modeling) to protect the fruit zone at the highest sun intensity of the day. It's still most common that we accommodate the tractor and implement width over height of canopy, fruit zone 'placement', etc., and most commonly that if we have an east-west property or a north-south property, we default to place end posts where they seem to be 'most efficient' rather than planning our rows to align with the natural rise and fall of the sun during the grapes most susceptible time of damage from the sun: Veraison to harvest. I've planted multiple VSP's in a few of the hottest regions of California and have used veraison modeling with excellent results. Would love to have a discussion on this. NK
Zac Brown
5mo
The first principle of viticulture is to match growing system with regional constrains. Where I am double guyot vsp is absolutely the best choice for all the same reasons it’s not the best choice in Texas or similar climates
Definitely an interesting point of view whithin the training system debate! I would like to suggest an open access scientific paper where we compared VSP and tendone (overhead) trellises in mediterranean basin focusing on water productivity and some other considerations… https://doi.org/10.1080/03650340.2024.2375293 https://doi.org/10.1080/03650340.2024.2375293
Dan Rotlisberger
5mo
100% agree. “Sprawl” style protects the fruit and reduces labor. Win-win.
PhD, Viticulture Researcher and Wine Educator. Investigador doctor, enólogo y profesor asociado de viticultura.
5moIn addition, planting northern french grapes on the dry hot climatic conditions of some areas in Spain...or removing spanish well adapted grapes to warm climates...we need a general review of all this established ideas in viticulture...thanks for sharing