Here is my walk down to the vineyard. The vineyard I was working in today is called Schlossacker, or the Castle-acre. This vineyard is at the foot of the castle. I was working on the Pinot Noir variety today.
Here are the different entrances into the vineyard. I took the second on the right to reach my destination somewhere in the middle.
The first step in my job today was clipping off suckers and extra shoots below the main arm of the vine. The suckers grow from the base of the vine and the extra shoots may grow at any node along the vine. To shape the vine into a useful shape for harvesting (and with the interest of getting the vine the maximum amount of sunlight), it is good to cut all the vines into one, uniform shape. In this case, I would go to each vine in the row and cut off what you see below:
Below are examples of suckers.
This is what the completed vine looks like below the arm. (The black hose is used for irrigation).
The next two pictures are to show what the vine should look like with a bare trunk below the arm:
The next step in the process is to tie or train the grapes. The tool used may be called a "duratool" or "hand-tying tool," depending on where you look for one. Any local grape supplier should have one that works well. This machine (pictured below) works fantastically!
Here is where the tape is:
It loads staples easily too. You just click it once to stretch the tape and then click it around the vine and the wire and it staples! Walah! Its such a nifty tool, around here we call it the "clicker." We use extremely technical terms while we are working because we are professionals.
Here's how this beauty works: click and tie!
click and tie!
This is what the Pinot Noir looked like before I began.
This is what it looks like now!Nik says it will look even better after he mows around the vines.
Here, Nik holds a few leaves to show what certain pests look like. Below is a fungus called downy mildew. This is what it looks like after a fungicide has killed it. 
Here are some eggs from an insect that bothers the grape vines. Nik says that this insect does not hurt the yield enough for him to need pest management plan.
The grape vines are grown in a way that makes harvesting simple. This is the example of the pergola system that Nik has for some of the vineyard. For harvesting here you would reach above your head to harvest the grapes.
Here are some eggs from an insect that bothers the grape vines. Nik says that this insect does not hurt the yield enough for him to need pest management plan.
The grape vines are grown in a way that makes harvesting simple. This is the example of the pergola system that Nik has for some of the vineyard. For harvesting here you would reach above your head to harvest the grapes.
Here, Nik shows Miche how to use the clicker...
and which suckers and shoots to cut...
and Miche gets it!
Here, Miche shows Nik how to tie a jugular vein...
and here, how to prune extra, unwanted, appendages. (Please don't try this at home).
Nik is a great boss - he brings us ice cream (gelato!) all the time. He gets it from Samy, who owns Samy's Ice Cream shop in Dorf Tirol. Samy makes the best ice cream in SudTirol, with the most amazing assortment of flavors. Did we eat it all?
Nik has been mowing for three days now and has a few more to go. He mows around the grape vines and the pear trees several times a year so that harvesting is made simple and to keep competitive weeds out of the production areas.
Here is one of the grape vines from Weberacker - see the leaves sprouting? They are all beginning to sprout now and are well on their way to becoming grape producing vines!
