Effeuillage and Bunch Removal - leaf and grape thinning

Effeuillage, simply the removal of leaves, is undertaken to ensure that there is a good supply of air around the grapes, to help prevent any maladies, and to ensure that the sun can more easily ripen the bunches.

Our effeuillage is carried out first of all on the north side of the vines. The bunches can then be dried by the morning sun whilst avoiding burning by the high afternoon temperatures.

As part of the same activity we remove excess bunches of grapes. This also enables air to circulate, reduces the risk of broken berries due to compression as the bunches develop and enables even spacing of the bunches (improved ripening and easier to harvest). The main reason, however, is to reduce the yield for each vine and hence improve the quality of the end product.

Before	After	Bunches thinned

Cutting off healthy bunches of grapes (after having spent much effort growing them!) is a little demoralising. Each vine is first assessed, any tangled clusters straightened out and finally the best bunches, distributed evenly along the vine are selected with all the others trimmed off with a pair of grape scissors (small secateurs). We also undertake selective cluster thinning, trimming off individual clumps of berries, where we think it will be beneficial. There is quite an art in making the best out of the vine and, in spite of the amount of grapes on the floor, it is quite satisfying to see the end result.