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Vynesco

Field crew for vineyards Logroño, La Rioja Est. 2008

Index
  1. 01How a Job Runs
  2. 02Methods
  3. 03Rates and Terms
  4. 04The Crew
  5. 05Contact

Write to hello@vynesco.com. Marta replies within two working days.

Report
02
Subject
Methods
Prepared by
Marta
Season
Nov to Oct

What the Crew Does to Each Vine, Season by Season

What our hands do to a vine in winter, in early summer and at harvest, how fast a crew of eight gets through a parcel, and the jobs we send elsewhere. Prices for each are in Report 03.

In this report
  1. 2.1Winter pruningDec-Mar
  2. 2.2Canopy workMay-Jul
  3. 2.3Harvest pickingSep-Oct
  4. 2.4What we turn down7 items

Three seasons of hand work · Figures 2 and 3 · Tables 2 and 3

§2.1 Winter pruning

§2.1Winter · December to March

Winter Pruning, December to March

Pruning decides next year's crop, so it is the work we take slowest. Two buds on a spur, cut clean, counted on a clicker.

We start in December once the leaves are down and the sap has gone back into the trunk, and we finish in March before budburst. A winter day runs from 8:00 to 15:30 with almuerzo at 10:30. If the crew lead stops work for rain or for frost below minus 4°C, the hours stopped are not charged.

How a vine is cut depends on how it was trained. In Rioja that means one of three systems, and we work all three.

  • Specimen T-1

    €0.55-0.75 a vine

    Bush Vine, Vaso

    Free-standing, no wire. Three to five short arms off a low trunk, each keeping a spur or two of two buds. Vines planted before 1970 are walked and priced by the parcel.

    Rates, Table 4

  • Specimen T-2

    €0.38-0.48 a vine

    Cordon Royat

    Two arms trained along the bottom wire, spurs spaced along the top of each. Two buds per spur, cut a finger's width above the second. Fig. 2 shows one.

    Rates, Table 4

  • Specimen T-3

    €0.38-0.48 a vine

    Guyot

    One cane of eight to ten buds and a two-bud spur below it that grows next year's cane. Tying the cane down is a second pass at €0.10 a vine.

    Rates, Table 4

Bush Vines Take Longer

A vaso has no wire to follow. The pruner works bent double or on one knee, turning round the vine to see every arm before the first cut. That is why a crew of eight does about 1,600 bush vines in a day against 2,400 on trellis. The old ones, planted before 1970, are all different shapes, so we walk them first and price the parcel as a whole.

The Cut on a Cordon Spur

Most trellised Tempranillo we prune is on cordon royat. On each spur we keep the cane nearest the arm, so the vine doesn't climb a little higher every year, and cut it back to two buds. The cut goes a finger's width above the second bud and slopes away from it, so rain runs off the wound and not into the bud. Everything else from that spur comes off. Every pair of secateurs has a strip of coloured tape on the handle, so nobody goes home with someone else's. Mine is mustard. We sharpen at 10:30, at almuerzo, on the van's tailgate, with a whetstone that lives in an old yoghurt pot of water.

A · Before the cut Before the cut: a spur on the cordon arm carrying last year's cane with six buds, and a weaker second cane. Mustard marks show where the cuts go. 1 Cut above bud two
B · After the cut After the cut: the same spur cut back to two buds, with the removed canes shown as dotted outlines. 2 Two buds kept 3 Wood removed
Fig. 2One spur on a cordon royat arm, before and after. The cut is marked in mustard: a finger's width above the second bud, sloped away from it. The second cane comes off at its base.

Specimen S-02 · Tempranillo spur · Cordon royat · January

Table 2Pruning output for a crew of eight on a full winter day. Use it to guess how long your parcel takes; the quote after the walk is what counts.
Training system Crew of 8, per day Per pruner Days for 10,000 vines
Cordon royatTrellised 2,400 about 300 4-4.5
GuyotTrellised, tying down is a second pass 2,400 about 300 4-4.5
Bush vine, vasoFree-standing, no wire 1,600 about 200 6-6.5
Bush vine, planted before 1970 Measured on the parcel walk and priced by the parcel
A full day is 8:00 to 15:30 with almuerzo at 10:30. Crews come in 4, 8 or 12. Minimum job 2,000 vines.

Counted, Not Estimated

We count every vine we prune with a tally clicker, row by row, and that number goes on the invoice. Not the figure in the land registry, which is usually out by a few hundred. Pulling the cut wood out into the middle of the row is extra, €0.07 a vine, and most growers want it. The full pruning rates are in Table 4 of the rates report.

Everyone on the crew is paid by the hour, never by the vine, so nobody has a reason to rush a cut. You can read about who comes out to your parcel in Report 04. Book by 30 November for a December to February start; March slots go on shorter notice if we have them.

§2.2Early summer · May to July

Canopy Work, May to July

Five hand jobs between budburst and veraison, done on short summer days that start at 7:00 and stop before the worst of the heat.

Canopy work shapes where the leaves go and how much light reaches the bunches. It is quick work per vine but there are a lot of vines, so we send at least four people and usually eight. From June to August the crew starts at 7:00 and finishes at 14:30. If the afternoon goes over 36°C and the lead stops work, those hours are not charged.

Shoot thinning
We walk each vine and take off doubles, shoots from blind buds and anything crowding the fruiting shoots, leaving the count per spur you ask for.
Desuckering
Suckers come off the trunk and the base by hand, so they don't take water or shade the low bunches.
Leaf pulling
Leaves come off around the bunches on the morning side of the row only. The fruit gets the soft early sun and keeps its shade when the afternoon heat comes over.
Lifting wires
As the shoots grow we raise the catch wires up the posts and tuck the shoots in, so the canopy stands upright and your tractor can still get down the row.
Topping by hand
Shoots flopping over the top wire are cut back with hand shears. No machine, so a vine that needs more leaf can keep it.
Table 3Typical canopy hours per hectare on trellised vines, and what that comes to at the hourly rate. Dense or neglected parcels take longer.
Task Worker-hours per ha Crew of 8, clock time At €18.50 an hour
Shoot thinning 28-36 3.5-4.5 hours €518-€666
Leaf pullingMorning side only 22-30 2.75-3.75 hours €407-€555
Desuckering Usually done in the same pass as shoot thinning
Lifting wires Depends on the trellis, measured on the parcel walk
Topping by hand Depends on vigour, measured on the parcel walk
Minimum booking: four workers for a half day of four hours, €296. Crews of 4, 8 or 12.

Canopy work is charged by the worker-hour, so you pay for the time the crew is on your vines and nothing for weather stops. Book by 15 April for May to July. The hourly rate and minimums are set out in Table 5 of the rates report.

§2.3Harvest · mid September to late October

Harvest Picking, Mid September to Late October

You read the sugar and you choose the rows. We pick, sort and stack until your trailer is full.

You Decide the Order

You have the sugar readings and you know your winery's dates, so the picking order is yours. We book a week window with you by 31 July, then fix the exact day three to five days ahead once the readings are in. At harvest the crew works Monday to Saturday, up to twenty-four pickers, and never on a Sunday. The whole sequence, from first message to invoice, is in Report 01, How a Job Runs.

Into Your Crates

We pick into your own 20 kg crates and never fill above the line under the rim, so a stacked crate rests on the crate below and not on your grapes. Bunches are laid in, not dropped. Fig. 3 shows a full one.

A 20 kg harvest crate drawn in section, filled with bunches up to a fill line below the rim, with a rotten bunch left on the ground beside it. Headroom 1 Rim 2 Fill line below the rim 3 Laid, not dropped 4 Sorted in the row 20 kg crate · grower's own · drawn in section
Fig. 3A full 20 kg crate in section. The fruit stops at the fill line so the next crate up sits on the rim; rotten and raisined bunches never reach the crate.

Specimen H-03 · Garnacha · 20 kg crate · October

Sorting in the Row

Rotten and raisined bunches are cut out where they hang and left on the ground. The picker decides bunch by bunch, and the crew lead walks behind and checks. It costs a little speed and saves you a sorting table at the winery.

At the Row End, We Stop

Full crates are carried to the row end and loaded onto your trailer. That is where our part ends: the drive to the winery is yours. Picking on trellis is €0.11 a kilo; bush vines and selective picking are €152 per picker for an 8-hour day, with a minimum of one full day for eight pickers. The deposit and its refund rules are in Table 6 of the rates report.

§2.4Exclusions · seven items

What We Turn Down

Seven things we say no to, and why, so nobody waits a week for a parcel walk that can't help them.

  1. Spraying or any chemical treatment We don't spray. Someone else does that better, and we'd rather keep our hands on the vine.
  2. Tractor work, mechanical pre-pruning or machine harvesting We are a hand crew. Fourteen pairs of secateurs in winter and not one tractor.
  3. Planting, grubbing out old vines, trellis and posts A different trade with different tools. We come in once the vines are standing.
  4. Hauling grapes to the winery We load your trailer at the row end and stop there. The drive to the weighbridge is yours.
  5. Olives, fruit trees or garden vines Vineyards only. A vine over a garden pergola wants a gardener, not a crew of eight.
  6. Parcels more than 90 km from Logroño Past 90 km the crew spends more of the day in the van than in your rows.
  7. Sunday work, even at harvest Sunday belongs to the crew. If your sugar peaks at the weekend, we pick Saturday or Monday.

Not sure where your job falls? A parcel at 92 km, a row of table grapes among the Tempranillo, a trellis half rebuilt. Ask us about anything borderline at hello@vynesco.com and Marta will tell you straight.