Its a dreary, rainy spring day today and I am one row away from pruning the entire vineyard. I am anxious to get out there and finish it. Over the last month, when I haven't been bottling, cleaning barrels and tanks, organizing and storing nets, etc, I have been in the vineyard pruning. I find it therapeutic. It's a very satisfying process... cutting off all the excessive growth, in order to give the vines a fresh start. It looks so clean and orderly after. I almost feel like a barber (one of the old-school ones of course, with the candy cane pole outside and the leather sharpened razors), cleaning up my wintery "bearded" vines with a good old-fashioned shave. Its one of the tasks in the vineyard that I really get a "hands on" feel for the condition of the vines after the winter cold and what they will need in the coming months.
