Pruning grapevines is not difficult, but it’s hard work and very important to ensure a good harvest. It takes years of shaping vines by pruning them to make sure you’re able to maintain consistency of the quality of the fruit, and the productivity of the vine.

After harvest we wait until leaf fall, and when it’s just cold enough, usually around the end of June, we cut the canes “borselkop” to a length of 30cm long. (“Borselkop” is difficult to translate – but essentially the vines look like they’ve had a brushcut when done).


They need to be this length because they are the sensors that pick up the change of weather. This helps to gauge when it’s time for the vines to wake up again after the winter sleep. 


At the end of August we cut the canes down to 3cm so that there are only two buds. These two buds will create new shoots which will carry the new crop. We only cut at end of August so that bud bursts are even which means the fruit that ripens evenly and we end up with a balanced wine.


Pruning is essential to maintain a balance between the growth of the vines and the quality of the crop. If a vine is pruned too much, more shoots grow and the vine produces more grapes – it also produces more leaves! If the vine has too many leaves, and thus more shade, it becomes difficult for the grapes to ripen.

Hand tools are mainly used to prune grape vines as you have to be very careful not to injure the vines. Larger wood is trimmed with skêr (scissors... LARGE ones) or handsaws.



The fruits of our labour and dedication during pruning will be evident in the quality of The Berrio wines we create for you.

The bud burst (or break) is the start of the annual growth cycle of grapevines. This cycle culminates in leaf falling in autumn and then winter dormancy. Each step in the cycle plays a vital role in the development of the grapes into fruit which has the ideal characteristics for making wine.


Even bud bursts are important for producing a consistent and balanced wine because it means that we are able to pick the fruit all at once. Due to the cold spell we had at the end of September the bud bursts are slightly uneven and we’ll be compensating for this during suckering. Suckering is the process of thinning and evening out the vine’s shoots to produce better grapes. This will ensure the next vintage of your favourite Berrio wine is consistent and balanced (AND delectable of course!).


In the first year of a vine’s life we get to know the nuances of a particular vines growth cycle and are then better able to predict the point at which the fruit will be at its optimum. The amount of time spent at each stage of the growth cycle depends on a number of factors - mostly the climate and the characteristics of the grape variety.

We know that buds are going to be bursting soon when the vines begin to “bleed”. This starts when the soil begins to warm and water containing all the goodness of the earth is pushed up the root system of the vine by osmosis. The water then leaves the vine through the ‘cuts’ left from pruning. A single vine can “bleed” up to 5l of water!


The tiny buds on the vine then start to swell and shoots begin to grow (burst) from the buds – the first sign of green in the vineyards after the winter! Buds are the small part of the vine that rest between the vine's stem and the leaf stem. Eventually the shoots sprout tiny leaves that can begin the process of photosynthesis, producing the energy to accelerate growth.  In warm climates the growth of the shoots starts to accelerate rapidly after about 4 weeks, growing an average of 3cm a day.