Keeler Estate would like to start off the year in wishing you a happy and prosperous new year to come!

During the months of January- February and even March we spend time working in our vineyard pruning the vines. The basic idea behind pruning is to eliminate excess plant growth from the year before so the vines can channel their energy into growing for the New Year. This process also helps train the vines to grow in an ideal way to produce high-quality wine grapes.

We do all our pruning by hand. In our opinion, it is most important that we get to truly connect with the vines. A personal relationship to the vines helps the crew evaluate each vine individually and prune accordingly due to position of the vineyard. The crew pays attention to soil, depth, elevation, clone, varietal, etc.… some vines might need extra attention or care to reach their full potential.

One of our main jobs is to remove last year’s woody (lignified) growth on the grape vine. Without human intervention, the vine would produce expansive vegetative growth and an abundance of extremely small clusters of fruit.

Cheers! Till next time,
Beatrice Keeler Ruden