PCC Nov/Dec 2019

VINEYARD REVIEW
Continued from Page 44
the nutrient supply to the fruit,
thus making better fruit for wine.
The VSP design puts the fruit a reasonable
distance up the trunk away
from the nutrient source, which
has the potential for decreasing the
fruit quality. I have found that the
physiological maturity and brix in
the fruit harvested from the VSP
trellis design is not as balanced
as it could be, for some reason.
For example, the fruit I harvested
from the vines on my neighbor’s
property is on a sandy red clay mix
soil and grown on the VSP trellis
design. Although the soil has a
huge effect on the maturity and
quality of the fruit, this vintage’s
fruit is very unbalanced with high
pH and low Titratable/Total Acid
(TA). I also noticed very little
sunlight reached the fruit down
in the crotch of the cane/cordon,
thus creating an issue of physiological
maturity, which might have
contributed to the acid imbalance.
In summary, the VSP design, at
least in our area, produces lower
quality and unbalanced fruit,
contributes to increased powdery
mildew, prevents mildew sprays
from reaching the fruit, allows
for more bird damage, requires
more time and effort to maintain,
and requires the soil nutrients
to travel farther to the fruit.
New Trellis Design
The goal of a new trellis design
became one that allows more
light and air into the vine while
still protecting the grapes from
sunburn and being easy to care for
on a small scale. I started looking
into other trellising systems that
might satisfy the requirements
by studying publications, like Dr.
Smart’s “Sunshine into Wine” and
others, to find the right design.
The research spanned the world of
grape trellising including designs
of France, Italy, Australia, and the
U.S. As the analysis proceeded, I
discovered there really wasn’t a design
that satisfied the identified requirements
while still being easy to maintain.
Consequently, I decided to create
my own design that would answer
my requirements and be easily
maintained. The design is essentially
a “V” shape with cordons angled up
sharply and is named “Shoemaker’s
Angled Shoot Projection” (SASP).
SASP
The SASP trellis design has resulted
in less maintenance while providing
higher quality fruit, significantly
less powdery mildew, less bird
damage, and easier harvests.
Specifically, the SASP trellis design
provides two to four leaves between the
sun and fruit, thus providing the correct
amount of sunlight on the grapes
to achieve the 20 percent flecking recommended
by Dr. Smart while preventing
sunburn and premature raisining.
This trellis design allows mildew sprays
to easily reach into the vine to the
fruit without the need for much leaf
movement or an expensive fan-style
spray rig, resulting in cleaner fruit at
harvest. Even though it is still necessary
to spray for powdery mildew, the
SASP trellis design has decreased the
number of sprays by more than half.
The SASP trellis design allows the
person harvesting to easily see the
fruit for a faster harvest without
expensive preparatory leaf cane and
leaf thinning. (See Figure 2, page 44.)
In Figure 2 (see page 44), the bird
netting can be seen rolled along the
drip line; but there are years that I don’t
get all the nets up to protect from the
birds. The SASP trellis design produces
fruit along the angled cordon canes
hanging free and making it almost
impossible for birds get to the fruit.
As an added benefit, the SASP trellis
design has allowed for ‘interplanting’
of additional vines because the angled
shoots extend upward and thus require
less horizontal space along the support
wires. Originally, the vineyard was
planted with vines 5 feet apart, now
because of the SASP design, I have
been able to interplant vines at 2.5 feet
apart which has doubled the number
of vines while each one is mining the
soil for its own nutrients resulting
in high quality fruit on each vine.
Interestingly, the vines planted in the
fertile sandy loam soil were largely
overgrown creating even more of a
powdery mildew problem; but now, at
the closer spacing, the vines are competing
with each other and the amount
of green matter growth has decreased
resulting in more balanced vines
between the leaves and fruit weight.
In Conclusion
The SASP trellis system was created
to answer identified issues in our
vineyard by mixing design parameters
to satisfy the requirements in
one trellis design structure. SASP
has resulted in more balanced vines
with higher quality fruit and easier
and less expensive maintenance.
Anyone is considering the SASP
trellis design, the individual vineyard’s
terroir, requirements, and issues
should be considered prior to making
the decision to use this design.
For over 12 years now, Steve Shoemaker
has been making wine and tending his
vineyard; where he finds much needed
solace after having been a Counter-
Terrorism (CT) expert and spending 7
years in war-zones. He has an undergraduate
degree in Biology and is a few
years away from a doctorate in CT; but
is currently in his last two courses of the
UC Davis Post Graduate Winemakers
Certificate Program. He can be reached
at: 3oaksvineyardclovis@gmail.com.
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46 Progressive Crop Consultant November / December 2019