It all starts in the vineyard with quality fruit!

 Fall Bright (actually Pa'tridge Run Farms) is where great wines begin.  For 36 years Tom Mitchell has been successfully striving to grow quality grapes with attention in the vineyard from pruning to harvest.  As we have 30 varieties of grapes on our farm, there are varied pruning regimens and training systems involved.  We have vines on many training systems including Umbrella Kniffen, Hudson River Umbrella, 4 arm and 6 arm Kniffen, Geneva double curtain, High cordon, Low cordon, Modified Keuka high renewal, Lenz Mosher and even our own Keuka Delta system.

Vines differ considerably in growth patterns - some vertical, some procumbent, some with tendrils some with none, some with short internodes others with long internodes, small leaves to large leaves - you get the picture.

The purposes of pruning are:

1.   To help establish and maintain the vine in a form that will save labor and facilitate vineyard operations;

2.   To distribute the bearing wood over the vine, between the vines and between years in accordance with the capacity of  the vine, so as to equalize production and get large average crops of high quality fruit; and

3.   To lessen or eliminate thinning in the control of the crop.

The purposes of training are to determine shoot arrangement to the extent that it positions the bud or base of the shoot

1.     To position leaves for optimum exposure to light,

2.     To position fruit for ease of pest control and harvest,

3.     To minimize tying labor, and (Tying for the uninitiated is a matter of fastening the vine to the trellis.)

4.     To maximize dormant pruning efficiency

These are but two, nonetheless, very important, vineyard tasks that contribute to quality fruit for quality wine grape production.