Epamprage - Removing excess growth

From spring to around the end of July the vine throws out lots of shoots, in particular around the base of the vines. Shoots and buds on the head of the vine are removed during ebourgeonage, epamprage is the removal of excess growth from the base. If left uncut the 'pampres', which do not produce any fruit, would become extremely long, sapping the energy of the vine and shading the bunches of grapes.

Different grape variaties produce widely different amounts of growth, by far the heaviest growth is found on Merlot vines which need to be epampraged three times a year.

It is possible to undertake this operation chemically - using a spray that kills the leaves - which we have avoided because of the impact to the vine or mechanically - an attachment for the tractor 'brushes' off the 'pampres' - not 100% effective. All our epamprage is undertaken by hand. Backbreaking but effective.

Click on the pictures below to see a larger image.

Before	After