Year in the vines – part 20

I spent my day in the Gusbourne vineyard this week performing what essentially amounts to an Enhanced Interrogation Technique for vines. Having had their limbs tied down and having been forced into a stress position known as the 'Single Guyot', they are then ready to be subjected to bud rubbing. Now, just as water-boarding sounds like the latest exciting sport for adrenaline junkies, bud rubbing sounds like it might be a rather pleasurable sensation for humans to engage in, but for the vine it certainly isn't. The process involves taking a stiff-brushed broom and scraping mercilessly up and down the...