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to the rescue of esca-susceptible vines
In Provence, Thibaud Jourdan, a cooperative winegrower on a 13-hectare estate, has trained himself in the principles of gentle pruning. His aim is to limit the number of vines dying from esca.
Before pruning with his Electrocoup pruning shears from Infaco, the winegrower begins by analysing the flow of sap on both arms of the cordon.
Thibaud Joudan has also done away with mutilating clear-cuts. Dead wood snags are cut back from one year to the next.