Now in winter time, maybe the wine produce can slow down a little and recuperate? Hardly. Now begins the season for la taille, the winter pruning. An extremely important task that requires special skill so you do not put a pair of secateurs in anybody’s hand. But you probably would put it in Diamentino Rato Teixeira’s hand. He recently won a pruning competition held at the Château Dillon in Bordeaux.
He and his rivals had to prune as quickly and as skilfully as possible a number of vines. A theoretical test was also part of the competition, testing the competitor’s knowledge of vines diseases and similar things. Teixeira works at Château Lynch-Bages in Pauillac.
This competition for the “Golden Secateurs” was only the beginning. Several pruning competitions will be organized in France during the winter. French farmers like competitions. They can be quite amusing actually, not least the ploughing competition where you must plough as straight as possible.
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