Which Grapes Are Best for Head Pruning?

The Goblet System

• Most wine grapes and some table grapes can be trained in the traditional head or Goblet system. It is especially suited for highly productive varieties such as Zinfandel, Grolleau, Chenin and Gamay. In this system, the head bears a ring of short arms with one to four buds after pruning. The severe pruning limits new growth, making it unsuitable for many table grapes and wine grapes that produce small clusters. The plant is also more dense, limiting access to sunlight.

Cane Systems

• In the cane system, the trunk is trained to a head, but longer canes are left at each annual pruning. This allows more growth than the Goblet system and less dense leaf canopy. It is suitable for Thompson seedless, which tends to have less fruitful buds near the base, and for Cabernet Sauvignon, White Reisling, Sauvignon Blanc and some of the Pinots, which produce small clusters. Concord grapes will get enough sunlight in this system, and Muscat and Dattier may have better fruit quality.

Head Training in Europe

• Many of the old wineries in Europe head train almost all the varieties in their vineyards. This is because it is the system under which the vines were originally trained, and as long as they keep producing, the system will be maintained. Head training is still practiced by some vintners in 2011, but wineries are moving away from it because other systems can produce more grapes in larger clusters and harvest can be mechanized.

Head Training in the Unites States

• A few California vineyards use the traditional head training for good quality wine, particularly for Zinfandel grapes, but it is rarely used anywhere else in the United States. A cane system known as the Kniffen system is often used in vineyards, particularly small ones, and in home gardens, because it is easier and less expensive to develop than the alternative, the cordon system, in which the vines do not have a head.