Pruning for quality

In a continued effort to raise the quality of its wines, Emmanuel Delicata Winemaker has just completed a pioneering exercise in ‘customised pruning’ for over 100,000 grapevines.

The pruning was carried out by a team of six pruning experts who are responsible for pruning some of the most prestigious appellations and chateaux in France.

The team of male and female pruners has a minimum of 15 years pruning experience. Each pruner averaged between 800 to 1,000 vines per day. Over 100,000 vines spread throughout Malta and Gozo have been pruned.

The introduction of these customised prun-ing techniques is another step taken by Delicata to help its growers to achieve vineyard sustainability.

The pruning methods also benefit from the reduced requirement for sprays and fertigation as a direct result of improved directional canopy growth.

Even the varietal characteristics and the grapes flavour compounds will improve, as well as maximising the amount of fruit produced so that growers reach their full DOK and IGT permitted yields.