Two-tone vines and topping

This week we are doing the second cimatura or topping of the vines. We are cutting back the suckers and tendrils in order to reign back the vines’ force and to increase penetration of sunlight to the fruit. Although there are tractors that can be used for this operation we prefer to do this by hand since our workers can then assess each section of vine and act accordingly. The feminelle (lateral secondary offshoots, useful for photosynthesis and for bringing substances to the grapes) have to be 40-50 days old in order to work for the vines so the timing of the different topping operations is linked to the vine’s performance leading up to harvest.