According to local tradition, vines can be pruned between early December and Saint Joseph's Day (19th March, the last day of Winter). By then, the vines are just about to shoot. Pruning too early will mean that the vines shoot earlier, making them vulnerable to late winter frosts. This may sound like a long time to get the job done, but given that a medium sized farmer may have over 50.000 vines, that's an awful lot of pruning!

How and when a vine is pruned can be crucial to its growth the following season, and the quality of the grapes it produces. Just looking at the vineyards around Aiguamúrcia, where El Celler Català is based, you can see that there is no absolute consensus on how it should be done. In general, the longer the growth left on the vine, the greater the production the following season, but at the same time, the quality and sugar content of the grapes may diminish. Going too far in the opposite direction will affect the balance of the vine's vegetation.

The Vines are pruned using mechanical scissors powered by compressed air (although there are now some battery operated scissors on the market). A compressor is attached to the back of the tractor, and the air reaches the scissor down long plastic tubes.

Depending on the vine, Anton and Sergi leave between five and seven branches to reshoot. As the vine will have about double this number of branches from the previous year's growth they choose those most likely to grow strongly the following year, aiming to leave each vine balanced and shaped like a Spanish fan. Some of their vines - especially the red varieties - are grown trained on wires, but the principles are largely the same.

Of the remaining branches, they are cut down to the height of the second knot on the branch, and it is these "stubs" which will provide the new growth for this year's harvest.

Mid April, and the first shoots are now visible. Note how the shoots correspond to the knots left after pruning.

The vines shown above are of the Parellada variety