DESUCKERING BUDBREAK SHOOTS AT URBINA VINEYARDS
Desuckering is the action of eliminating non-productive ware shoots, which grow on its trunk or old wood. It is normally carried out just weeks after budbreak. A water shoot, is a shoot that arises from the wood of the vine, not from buds left at pruning. In fact they mostly arise from basal buds embedded in the wood and are generally not fruitful. Suckers are a type of water shoot which arise at the base of the trunk at or below soil level. Basal buds or base buds are the group of barely visible buds at the bottom of a shoot or cane. Normally they do not burst unless vines are severely pruned, and they are typically a low fruitfulness.
Bud break, or budburst, is a stage of the annual vine development during which small shoots emerge from vine buds in the spring. This process begins the new growing season and signals the end of dormancy, their period of winter sleep. The first sign that budbreak is imminent is bleeding, when the vines begin to drip water from pruning cuts. The buds left at winter pruning begin to swell in the few weeks prior to budbreak, and budbreak itself is marked by the first signs of green in the vineyard, as the first young leaves unfold and push through the bud scales.
Budbreak takes place in early spring in cool climates, when the average air temperature is about 10 °C/50 °F. For many northern hemisphere regions, budbreak occurs in March, and for the southern hemisphere in September. Budbreak is more uniform when winters are cold but not subject to winter freeze. In warm to hot regions, budbreak is earlier, and in cooler regions it is delayed. In fact in tropical viticulture the vines never achieve proper dormancy, and budbreak can take place at any time of the year.
Shoots or green stems, are stems of the vine that develop from a bud holding leaves or brunches. They begin to grow as a sprout (green stems), and if left to grow and mature they ripen forming arms, canes or cordons. Along with foliage and bunches it makes up the canopy. Vine growth, which is measured by the plant´s vigour and is a function of manifold environmental and cultivation factors. Begins at budbreak and decelerates as from verasion.
They can be fructifying those (carrying grapes) or not, and borne as much at the base of the trunk (whater shoots) as in the canopy e.g. (secondary shoots). The vine´s vegetative growth competes with the manufacturing of fruit, for which it is subjected to pruning both in winter and summer e.g. (tipping), to balance the relationship between yield, ripeness and foliage.
Bodegas Urbina only produces grapes from their own vineyards, making a respectful viticulture, with organic fertilizers, maintaining the richness and structure of the soil, contributing to the fruit the essence that characterizes Urbina wines. The cultivation is done in traditional bush and double cordon, without forcing production with yields between 5,000 and 6,500 Kgrs./Ha, following traditional practices and limiting the use of pesticides and fungicides. During the elaboration, native yeasts are used that give the wine a unique personality, the complexity of Urbina wineries.
