Vineyard

Hand pruning

Forty days in winter, each vine pruned individually. Hans decides for every vine — which shoots stay, which go, how the load is built up. Tools small and sharp, a pair of secateurs and pruning shears. No machines, no pneumatic aids. It’s the work that shapes the whole year — anyone who rushes here runs into trouble in summer.

Tying up and green work

In spring we tie the shoots to the wire, one stage a week, since the shoots grow at different speeds. In summer we thin the leaves around the grapes — more air, more sun, less pressure from fungal disease. Where the grapes grow too densely, we thin them out: fewer berries per vine means riper, more concentrated grapes in autumn.

Location and training

25 hectares spread across eight vineyard sites in Teesdorf, Leobersdorf, Baden and Tattendorf. Classic Guyot system, the standard training method in the Thermenregion for generations. Planting density between 5,000 and 6,500 vines per hectare — depending on site and variety. In old plantings such as the Frivolo site in Baden, considerably more.

Why we are changing our pruning method

We spent a long time trying to implement low-wound pruning. We still stand by it professionally today — it just couldn’t be communicated. Anyone who hasn’t fully understood the system can’t apply it, and no one prunes 25 hectares alone. That’s one of the mistakes we have written down for ourselves.

Our path now leads to cordon training. The structure: an arm on each side with three spurs, two buds per spur — twelve buds in total, and therefore twelve shoots per vine.

The advantage lies in what falls away. Once the framework is in place, pruning is only done to the spurs, and tying is no longer needed at all. We can work ahead deeply with the pre-pruner and afterwards essentially only need to tidy up the spurs. That's noticeably faster — and above all, it's easy to explain.

Add to that two things that benefit the vine itself. The cordon carries more old wood; this makes the vine more robust and less susceptible to drought stress. And we can prune later, because we initially leave everything standing: budbreak is delayed, which takes away some of the risk of late frost.

To be honest: building the framework is the difficult part. That work still lies ahead of us.