The 2017 Central Coast Pruning Competition

The 2017 Central Coast Pruning Competition was a great success!

The morning started cold but dry, and the sun came out occasionally to warm us. After signing in entrants and judges discussed the vines, the scoring procedure and what judges look for when evaluating the pruning cuts.

One of the judges Joel Castaneda (Vineyard Industry Products) goes over the example vine with the entrants

 

 

2017 Judges: Lowell Zelinski (IGGPRA and Precision Ag), Richard Sauret (Sauret Vineyard), Craig Macmillan (Vineyard Team), Joel Castaneda (Vineyard Industry Products) and Dan Rodrigues (VinaQuest)

In the first round each entrant pruned 8 vines for time

Then the judges went through and evaluated each cut as well as overall consistency, effect on future growth and planning.

 

The entrants with the top 6 scores went on to the Prune-Off round to prune 8 more vines and determine the winners.

Judges Joel Castaneda (VIP) and Craig Macmillan (Vineyard Team) go over spacing with the 6 contestants in the Prune-Off Round.

 

And the winners were:

 

Thank you everyone who entered, sponsored, judged, volunteered and cheered on the contestants; we couldn’t do this without you!