I opened a bottle of 2005 Benanti Etna Rosso di Verzella and it says the nerello mascalese and whatever grape used in making it are from head-trained vines. I know they do that for zinfandel. What other grapes are head trained?
Shiraz in So. Africa
I think any vines can be head trained. However I’m not aware of any Pinot or white varieties currently trained that way around here.
Monte Bello has some head pruned Cab vines. There are plenty of old petite sirah vineyards and a few syrah around. In Cienega Valley, De Rose has some 100+ year old vineyards with obscure varietals such as Negrette that are head trained.
My understanding is that it was popular in Italy, and many of the early winemakers were Italian. It was also cheaper than trellising; steel wire wasn’t readily available back then.
These days it typically means that it’s an older vineyard; most new vineyards use trellising, and many old head-pruned vineyards have been converted. The only winery I can think of offhand that are head-training a recent large vineyard is Clos LaChance, and of course it’s Zinfandel.
I’m not convinced that head training in itself actually has any benefits other than tradition and the cool way that it looks after pruning, but then I’m not a grower.
Off the top of my head, stuff that is “predominantly” head trained:
Most of Spain, including most Garnacha, Monastrell, Carignena and Tempranillo
Most of S. France including most Grenache, Mourvedre, Syrah, Carignan, Cinsault, Grenache Blanc, etc
A lot of S Italy, countless varietals
A lot of Greece
A lot of old vines in CA, Australia, S Africa, S America, etc
In general if you have a dry Mediterranean climate you can get away with it for most varietals.
Dave:
At Cedarville earlier this year they said if the zinfandel is not head trained then the grapes ripen unevenly.
My impression is that, aside from it being old-fashioned, it’s also a function of climate. If you want to expose the clusters to the sun, as you may need to in cooler climates, you probably have to train the vines. I can’t think of seeing any untrained vines in Northern Europe or cooler areas – e.g., Bordeaux, the Loire, Burgundy, Germany, Piedmont – even in old vineyards.
It’s not just grape exposure to sun, it’s canopy ventilation and cluster ventilation as well in climates where oidium, peronospora and botrytis are bigger issues. It’s also an issue of being able to drive / work the rows with tractors by having the vegitation out of the way and being able to get sprays onto the whole canopy and the clusters. Thus head training works a lot better in warm, dry, breezy climates that require a lot less spraying.
Yes, I meant to mention the spraying/ventilation issues, too.
I would speculate that the tractor issue is also indirectly related to climate since, with the exception of California, the warmer climates (Spain, Southern Italy, Provence) tended to poorer and could thus afford more manual labor.
I’ve seen more red Rhone varieties in California being head-trained in recent years, but still not very much overall. Tablas Creek has a lot of head-trained vines. In other vineyards, it seems to be more “experimental” blocks to see how they do.
I gather it’s not as easy to maintain a head-trained vineyard, and the hassles with things like “tractor blight” can’t help. You obviously don’t get nearly the crop, due to lack of density.
I know when Jim Forchini (Dry Creek) put in more Zin, he trellised it. He says other than age, the fruit’s the same, and the costs are down because it easier to farm. Of course, the conventional wisdom of fruit buyers is to only want the head-trained OV stuff. ![[shrug.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/4/48636ebda2a440a43ad8d24c83be20ac20c53420.gif "shrug"){kind=small}
I think Mission vines were usually head-trained, too.
People really ought to plant more old vines, don’cha think?
The vine structure, which changes from one variety to the other, is also a factor. Monastrell-mourvèdre, whose branches grow almost vertically, always pointing skyward, is a natural for head or gobelet pruning. Conversely, you will not see in France or Spain any gobelet pruned syrah. The vines are always trellised or, when grown on steep hillsides as in Côte Rôtie or Hermitage, attached to a long stick which plays the role the wires play on a trellis: syrah doesn’t grow upward, but sideways, with no ability of its own to rise, so that if you attempt to leave it on a gobelet, the leaves and grapes will be sitting uncomfortably in the dirt…
While I’ve seen more trellised Syrah than not (I’ve not been to the N Rhone), I’ve seen goblet pruned Syrah in Priorat, Faugeres, Nimes, Chateauneuf, California, and I’ve seen plenty of pictures of Syrah bushvines in OZ… I have no good explanation, the only Syrah I’ve dealt with personally is trellised.
Are you sure? I have only seen them in Australia. I have never seen them without at least sticks or poles in Europe.
This is how I’ve seen Zin. It’s a bush!