Glossary of Viticultural and Winemaking Terms

Cane pruning: To ensure that a vine produces the desired amount of fruit and shoots, it is necessary to prune it - that is cut back the year's growth. In cane pruning, a long cane - a shoot that grew last year- is wrapped around the wire, with all other growth minus some spurs (knobs where shoots form) for next years canes cut off. The main alternative is spur pruning>.

Clone: There are several varieties of well known grape varieties; Cabernet Sauvignon, Shiraz, Pinot, etc... However, within these varieties are subtle differences in plant types known as clones. These different clones can contribute different things to a wine, and in the case of Pinot Noir, where complexity on the palate is an important part of a good wine, a mixture of clones can help achieve a more complex wine.

Cordon: The part of the vine which grows along the wire and is made up of old wood. Cordons only exist in spur pruning.

Shoots: Vines are climbers by nature, and the long vinelike parts of the vines from which the leaves and grapes grow are called shoots.

Spur pruning: To ensure that a vine produces the desired amount of fruit and shoots, it is necessary to prune it - that is cut back the year's growth. In spur pruning, a cordon - essentially an extension of the trunk of the grapevine - is allowed to form on the wire, and shoots grow off spurs (knobs where shoots form) each year. The main alternative is cane pruning.

Veraison: Veraison is the time when grapes begin to ripen - in the case of red wines, this corresponds to the grapes turning colour from green to red. For white wines, the grapes swell and become softer.

Vertical Shoot Positioning: The trellis structure onto which the grapes grow can take different forms. In areas which are not too vigourous, the trellis is set up to enable Vertical shoot positioning of the vines. In this scheme of growing, the grapes are grown onto a wire approximately 1 meter above the ground, and the shoots of the grape are trained to grow upwards between sets of wires. These wires can be moved up and down, depending on how the length of the shoots.