Sormari Agriculture LTD

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Why is pruning done?
The basic reason is to remove the bulk of shoots that, having grown taller, can fall between the rows. The physiological implications are summarized here: pruning makes vines more resistant to water stress: the apical leaves are the largest consumers of water. By removing them, the plant achieves a better balance of available water resources.
It contributes to the creation of more balanced wines: cutting the apical leaves blocks growth in height and stimulates lateral buds, which form the lateral or female branches. This shifts the internal balance, reduces overall vigor, and therefore leads to a slight decrease in sugar production, which, however, is better conveyed to the bunches.
It improves the microclimate of the canopy: pruning slightly lightens the canopy, allowing greater light and ventilation to the underlying leaves and bunches, improving overall quality. Furthermore, it avoids humid micro-environmental conditions that favor various diseases.
It rejuvenates the canopy: initially, it actually ages it, because it cuts off the tips with young leaves. Later, however, the stimulation of the lateral branches (female shoots) leads to the growth of many new young leaves, which are highly efficient at photosynthesis, during the ripening process. Those of the main shoots, at this stage, begin to age. Overall rejuvenation helps support optimal ripening, allowing the accumulation in the bunch of all those components that will give richness and complexity to the wine.
Be careful, however: like all agricultural practices, done well is optimal; done poorly, it creates problems.
It is optimal at this stage, immediately after fruit set. If done too early, it blocks the growth of the shoots and limits the canopy (although in some cases, for certain varieties, it has been observed that, if done before flowering, it can improve the fruit set percentage). If pruned too late, its effect on the delicate physiological balance of the vine can be more negative than positive, causing a significant reduction in sugar content and berry weight. For example, in cooler climates, the late growth of female shoots competes too much with ripening berries for the plant's energy, to the detriment of the latter. In warmer environments, however, late pruning doesn't particularly stimulate the growth of lateral branches. You risk removing leaves without any benefits, resulting only in a reduction in leaf surface area.
How much to prune? It depends on your situation, but usually it's a small amount. Generally, avoid overly drastic cuts: we're not pruning an ornamental hedge!
As mentioned, if the canopy is too small, we risk negative consequences. It's been calculated that the bunches of grapes need a sufficient number of leaves above them for optimal ripening (at least a dozen). These leaves above the bunch provide the sugars for ripening. The lower ones send their sugars primarily to the shoots and perennial organs (trunk, roots). If vegetative growth is so intense that it requires significant pruning, it's necessary to consider making other changes to vineyard management, upstream.
Although the care I've explained is necessary, pruning isn't a task that requires excessive precision. For this reason, in a trellis system, pruning can be done mechanically, with a tractor-mounted tool, also because it's very important to complete it quickly, in the short window following fruit set, without overshooting.

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: between the spring phase and the Impact of sudden heat
After spring season, the month of June usually brings a sudden surge in temperatures. Temperatures in some winegrowing areas in southern Europe exceed 26 degrees Celsius, forcing winemakers to adjust their work in the vineyard. Vegetative development and flowering accelerate. Shoot growth, with well-formed and compact bunches, and canopy management become a priority: leaf removal is done sparingly to avoid water stress, and work is done on the vegetative walls to maintain the balance between light and shade. The scent of summer is already in the air in the vineyard, but residual soil moisture makes the microclimate delicate: preventing the onset of fungal diseases is essential.

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: The New Oenological Phenomenon.
A new trend is gaining traction in the wine world: wine tourism, or wine tourism within wine producing companies. The phenomenon is expanding globally. In Europe, this new business is being driven by Italy, France, and Spain.
According to European Commission estimates, wine tourism generated revenues of $46.5 billion worldwide, 51% of which came from Europe. It grew by 12.9% in Italy in the last year (2025), and for half of wineries, it represents 30% of profits. This is despite the fact that global wine consumption has undergone a significant decline in terms of per capita consumption.

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Wine in the EU, decline in production, consumption, and exports until 2035: the data - 19.3 liters per capita
Wine consumption in the EU is expected to decline by approximately 0.9% annually until 2035, reaching approximately 19.3 liters per capita (down from an average of 21.2 liters for the period 2021-2025).
The EU Commission's 2026 report on wine highlights a transformation in the sector: consumption and vineyard area are declining, but above all, market demand is changing, especially from Generation Z and Boomers.
The spotlight is therefore on the existence and direction of consumption and its form: regular users are decreasing, while the share of occasional consumers is growing. According to the European report, the share of occasional consumers is increasing from 44% to 61%, while their share of consumption is increasing from 15% to 40%.
This shift is much more significant than it seems. This means that for a growing portion of European consumers, wine no longer belongs to the realm of daily habit but to that of occasional choice. It is no longer a gesture incorporated into the ordinary rhythm of life; it is a consumption that must be reactivated, justified, desired. In other words, wine can no longer rely on its own implicit cultural capital. It must regain relevance, one step at a time.
In this new frontier of consumption, the role of communication is decidedly central. Communication ceases to be a mere embellishment and returns to being a market infrastructure. If consumption becomes sporadic, the category no longer wins through cultural inertia. It wins if it knows how to arrive at the right occasion. It wins if it makes itself understandable. It wins if it can express itself in modern, concise, and honest language.
* Modern, meaning suited to contemporary consumption codes.
* Concise, meaning capable of explaining without burdening and orienting without intimidating.
* Honest, that is, free from that grandiloquent rhetoric that too often inflates wine with mythology and ends up alienating those who simply want to understand what's in the glass, why it's worth trying, what food it pairs with, what pleasure it offers, what identity it expresses.

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Vineyard in Production: Protection treatments continue to prevent attacks from the main diseases (downy mildew, powdery mildew, etc.). It is being determined whether the trimming performed in the previous phase should be repeated, given the vegetative growth pattern of the vines.
Nearing the phenological stage of veraison, the beginning of ripening, production is monitored by removing, in the case of over-producing plants, the second or third bunch per productive shoot, leaving the bunch at the base of the shoot intact.

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World Viticulture & Oenology Consulting Services🍷🍷🍷


🚀
Modern technology is being used to study the best way to grow vines
Soil characteristics and exposure are crucial for vineyards. Satellites are coming to the rescue. The "Bacchus" project, which uses satellite imagery to create a database useful for wine production, is also expected to utilize data from the ESA (European Space Agency). The project's goal is to achieve extremely high levels of detail so that vineyard cultivation can be optimally planned. The data from ESA satellites should improve the maintenance of vineyard statistics and records; furthermore, other data, such as slope, angle to the sun, administrative boundaries, and so on, could be integrated into the GIS (Geographical Information System, a specialized database).
A satellite wine. By combining all this data, it is hoped to also identify the best areas for growing a particular type of wine, or where it is best to establish the boundaries of a Controlled Designation of Origin area. Begun in early 2003 at pilot sites in France and Italy (in Frascati, near the ESA observation centre laboratories), the project has since spread to all areas of the European continent affected by viticulture.
🚀 🇨🇾

© 2026 - SORMARI AGRICULTURE LTD
World Viticulture & Oenology Consulting Services🍷🍷🍷


🚀
Modern technology is being used to study the best way to grow vines
Soil characteristics and exposure are crucial for vineyards. Satellites are coming to the rescue. The "Bacchus" project, which uses satellite imagery to create a database useful for wine production, is also expected to utilize data from the ESA (European Space Agency). The project's goal is to achieve extremely high levels of detail so that vineyard cultivation can be optimally planned. The data from ESA satellites should improve the maintenance of vineyard statistics and records; furthermore, other data, such as slope, angle to the sun, administrative boundaries, and so on, could be integrated into the GIS (Geographical Information System, a specialized database).
A satellite wine. By combining all this data, it is hoped to also identify the best areas for growing a particular type of wine, or where it is best to establish the boundaries of a Controlled Designation of Origin area. Begun in early 2003 at pilot sites in France and Italy (in Frascati, near the ESA observation centre laboratories), the project has since spread to all areas of the European continent affected by viticulture.
🚀 🇨🇾

© 2026 - SORMARI AGRICULTURE LTD
World Viticulture & Oenology Consulting Services🍷🍷🍷


Entrusting wine is the true mission of winemakers and cellar masters. In the dark, cool cellars, wine ages and matures, with different times and blends.
Each wine, each vintage, develops different characteristics, making aging a rigorous, never predictable process that the winemaker must understand, plan, and guide without forcing. It's the details that make the difference and the elegance.

© 2026 - SORMARI AGRICULTURE LTD
World Viticulture & Oenology Consulting Services🍷🍷🍷


This time of year, depending on the vegetative growth, the possibility of pruning is assessed, especially to remove the shoot tips that, falling beyond a 45-degree angle, would damage and shade the fruit base. During fruit set, leaf removal begins to the north and northwest to facilitate aeration of the bunches and improve the effectiveness of the treatments.
These interventions, once performed by hand, are also carried out mechanically.
This is, of course, possible with wall-trained vines such as Guyot and spurred cordon.

© 2026 - SORMARI AGRICULTURE LTD
World Viticulture & Oenology Consulting Services🍷🍷🍷


🚀
Modern technology is being used to study the best way to grow vines
Soil characteristics and exposure are crucial for vineyards. Satellites are coming to the rescue.
The "Bacchus" project, which uses satellite imagery to create a database useful for wine production, is also expected to utilize data from the ESA (European Space Agency). The project's goal is to achieve extremely high levels of detail so that vineyard cultivation can be optimally planned. The data from ESA satellites should improve the maintenance of vineyard statistics and records; furthermore, other data, such as slope, angle to the sun, administrative boundaries, and so on, could be integrated into the GIS (Geographical Information System, a specialized database).
A satellite wine. By combining all this data, it is hoped to also identify the best areas for growing a particular type of wine, or where it is best to establish the boundaries of a Controlled Designation of Origin area. Begun in early 2003 at pilot sites in France and Italy (in Frascati, near the ESA observation centre laboratories), the project has since spread to all areas of the European continent affected by viticulture.
🚀 🇨🇾