This year, we have decided to take on maintenance of the vineyard itself, with the help of our friend and neighbor, Rich Schmidt.  Dr. Schmidt is the proprietor and chief winemaker of Moose Mountain Vineyards (www.moosemountainvineyards.com).  Rich taught us how to properly prune the 2-year old vines to prepare for the 3rd year of growing.

In the first video, I show how to prune a vine that is thick enough to support grape growth this year.  The criteria for keeping a trunk is that (at this point in its life) it is as thick as a #2 pencil.  If it is, we keep it, if it isn’t, we trim it back.

In the second video, I show how we trim a trunk back when it isn’t thick enough.

The hope is that we will have a nice solid trunk, and get some really good sized shoots that will become cordons.