August 10, 2026, 4:10 am | Read time: 6 minutes

If grapevines are not pruned, they produce an abundance of fruit. However, the grapes are small, sour, and never fully ripen because the vine sets more clusters than it can support. This is a familiar issue in gardening. Tomatoes are pruned to direct energy into the fruit rather than side shoots. Apple trees experience the so-called June drop, where the tree naturally sheds excess apples. If too many apples remain after the June drop, it’s advisable to thin them out manually. Pruning is also essential for grapevines if you want to harvest high-quality grapes. Each year, excess shoots and old wood must be removed.

Where the Grapes Grow

Grapes grow on shoots that sprout fresh in the same year. These shoots come from wood that grew the previous year. The older wood beneath no longer bears fruit; it only forms the permanent framework. During late winter pruning, the shoots that bore fruit the previous year are removed, but a piece of young wood with a few buds is left. In spring, new fruiting shoots sprout from these buds. This way, the fruiting wood is renewed each year. How much of the plant remains as a permanent framework depends on the training system.

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What Happens if You Don’t Prune

A grapevine left to its own devices will grow excessively. Over the years, a second problem arises alongside the many small, sour grapes: The vine prioritizes its topmost buds, building layer upon layer outward. The good fruiting wood moves further from the trunk, while the old wood inside becomes barren. Additionally, dense foliage prevents air circulation, creating an ideal environment for fungal diseases like mildew.

Winter Pruning: Timing and Amount

In winter, when the vine is bare and the plant is not yet active, the structure for the entire coming year is established. In this leafless state, it’s easy to see which wood is old and spent, which of the previous year’s shoots are strong enough to produce fruiting shoots this year, and which need to be removed. Strong enough means specifically: about pencil-thick, with light brown bark.

The best time frame is late winter, around February to early March, before the sap starts flowing and on a frost-free day. If you prune too late, when the sap flow has already begun, the vine will bleed at the cut points.

Bleeding of Grapevines
The so-called bleeding describes the leakage of clear plant sap, which mainly contains water and dissolved minerals transported from the roots to the shoots. This bleeding can be surprisingly intense and prolonged. The plant usually survives it, but it’s better to prune early enough to prevent it.

The amount of shoots removed during winter pruning often surprises many: For established vines, around 80 to 90 percent of the one-year-old wood is typically removed. The vine looks alarmingly bare afterward. Most people prune their first vine too cautiously, fearing they might harm it and reduce the harvest. However, this concern is unfounded: The more common mistake is not removing enough.

Summer Pruning: Light and Air for the Grapes

In early summer, a second, lighter intervention occurs. Shoots without fruit set are broken off, the growing fruiting shoots are tied to the trellis and their length is limited. This directs the plant’s energy where it’s needed and brings light and air to the grapes.

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Arch or Cordon: Two Pruning Systems

There are two different systems for pruning grapevines: the arch and the cordon.

Arch

In the arch training, classic in vineyards and on trellises, the permanent framework is reduced to a minimum: the trunk up to its thickened upper end, the head, set at about hip height. Each year during winter pruning, one or two strong shoots from the previous year are selected, shortened to eight to twelve buds, and tied in an arch to the trellis wire. In spring, shoots sprout from the arch’s buds, which then bear the grapes. Afterward, the arch is spent and is completely removed the next winter. For each removed arch, a replacement spur should be left: one of the new shoots, shortened to two buds. All other shoots are completely removed. The replacement spur grows the wood for the new arch.

Cordon

In the second system, the cordon, typical for house walls or pergolas, more remains than in the arch training. The height of the trunk depends on the area: On a low trellis, it remains as low as in the arch, but on a pergola or high wall, it is led significantly higher. Some horizontal branches extending from the trunk are permanent and grow thicker each year. Shoots that grew on them in summer are shortened in winter to short stubs with two buds, the spurs. In spring, new shoots sprout from the buds, which then bear the grapes. The following winter, the upper shoot is completely removed, the lower one is shortened again to two buds, and the cycle begins anew.

Both systems follow the same principle. The difference lies solely in how much framework remains permanently: The cordon covers an area, a wall, or a pergola with its permanent branches and remains for years. The arch keeps the vine small and is almost entirely renewed each winter. In both cases, the same rule applies for pruning: one to two centimeters above the top bud that is to remain, slightly angled and with the cut surface sloping away from it.

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What Does This Mean for Your Own Garden?

When planting a young vine, you should deliberately forgo yield in the first two to three years and instead focus on building the trunk and framework. A well-structured vine is much easier to prune in subsequent years and is also more productive.

If you take over an older, unpruned vine, you should first look for the oldest and thickest wood. From there, determine what will remain as the framework and what can be removed. For one-year-old wood, a sharp, clean garden shears is sufficient. For old, thick wood, however, you need loppers or a small saw.

Whether old or new vine, it all comes down to one question: how much to remove. If the vine is to cover a wall, more permanent framework remains. If it is to stay compact and bear large clusters, almost everything is cut back to the head each winter. The system is chosen once and pruned accordingly each year.