Pruning the vine in Burgundy is one of the first great appointments of our year at the estate. Once the leaves have fallen and the vine enters its winter rest, the landscape of Solutré grows simpler: the rows become graphic, the stocks are laid bare and every parcel calls for particular attention. That is when a patient task begins, essential to preparing the season ahead.

In our Pouilly-Fuissé vineyard, pruning is not merely a matter of shortening canes. It commits the future balance of the plant, the distribution of its growth and the potential of its grapes. It requires knowing every row, observing the wood produced the previous year and adapting our gesture to the condition of each stock.

Why is pruning the vine so important?

The vine is a liana: left to grow freely, it would produce many shoots and seek to spread. In viticulture, pruning allows this vigour to be guided. By keeping a measured number of buds, we frame the load the stock will carry in spring and through the summer.

This work helps maintain a balanced relationship between the foliage, the bunches and the plant's reserves. An overloaded vine may struggle to bring all its bunches to ripeness. Conversely, pruning that is too severe, or repeated without discernment, can weaken the stock. What we seek is therefore a balance, year after year.

On the limestone soils of Solutré, this observation takes on its full meaning. The parcels do not all react in the same way: the age of the vines, the depth of the soil, the exposure and the vigour observed during the previous season all guide our decisions. Work in the vineyard thus begins well before the first buds.

Winter pruning in our Pouilly-Fuissé vineyard

Winter is the preferred period to intervene, once the growing cycle has ended. The year's canes are then lignified and the structure of the stock is easier to read. We move forward row after row, taking the time needed to look rather than to repeat an automatic gesture.

We identify the wood that will be able to carry the future growth and the wood it is better to remove. We also watch over the continuity of the stock's structure. Well-considered pruning is part of the long term: it answers not only to the next harvest, but to the longevity of the vine.

Winter days at the estate have their own rhythm. They often begin in the cold, sometimes with a very clear light on the rock of Solutré. The work continues outdoors, in direct contact with the stocks, and offers a precious moment to assess the general health of the vineyard after autumn.

Observing before cutting

Before each cut, we observe the position of the canes, the vigour of the wood and any marks left by previous years. The aim is to make clean, coherent cuts, avoiding as far as possible the multiplication of needless wounds. This attention is an important part of the care given to the estate's living heritage.

Pruning is also an exercise in humility. A single rule cannot be applied indiscriminately to every stock. A younger vine is not managed like an old vine; a less vigorous plant deserves a different approach from a very active one. The craft lies as much in that capacity to adapt as in the mastery of the gesture.

From pruned wood to preparing the rows

After pruning comes the time to remove or mulch the wood, according to the practices chosen and the conditions of the parcel. This stage makes the rows more accessible for the work that follows. It also contributes to the cleanliness of the vineyard and allows observation of the stocks to continue with a clear view.

The canes removed tell their own story of the past season. Their diameter, their length and their regularity give indications of the vine's vigour. Without drawing hasty conclusions, we cross-check these observations with what we saw during the year: weather conditions, development of the canopy and the behaviour particular to each sector.

  • Read the vigour and structure of each stock;
  • Choose the wood that will prepare future growth;
  • Make clean cuts, with attention to the longevity of the plant;
  • Organise the rows for the operations that will follow in spring;
  • Keep the memory of each parcel in order to refine our choices.

This work belongs to a succession of gestures. After winter, budbreak will open a new phase of observation, then will come the green work and the monitoring of ripeness. Pruning is therefore not an isolated act: it lays the foundations of a support that continues through to the harvest.

A season prepared in the calm of winter

In the cellar, the wine expresses a vintage, a terroir and choices made in the winemaking. In the vines, it is worth remembering that this story begins much earlier. Pruning links the past harvest to the one to come, while placing our work within the long time of the vine.

We are particularly fond of this moment when the vineyard seems silent. The stocks do not yet carry their leaves, but they already concentrate the energy that will feed the next cycle. This apparent stillness is not a pause: it is a stage of preparation, attentive and concrete.

To prune is to prepare the future without forgetting the history of each vine stock.

For our Chardonnay cuvées from southern Burgundy, this demand in the vineyard counts from the very first gesture. It replaces neither the work of the seasons nor the uncertainties of the climate, but it allows us to approach spring with vines that are structured and closely followed. At Solutré, it is also a way of remaining faithful to our craft: observing, supporting and caring for what the terroir entrusts to us.

When should the vine be pruned in Burgundy?

Pruning the vine in Burgundy is carried out mainly during the dormant period, between leaf fall and the restart of spring. The precise calendar nevertheless depends on weather conditions, on the state of the parcels and on the organisation of each estate.