Bud load: the number of eyes

Name: Domaine aux Conseillans
Address: 35 Chemin du Limancet, Saint-Caprais-de-Bordeaux, Nouvelle-Aquitaine, 33880, FR
Telephone: +33619700435
Price range: €€

The standard

A set bud number follows the vigour of the vine and the aim for the vintage, not a fixed rule. Too many eyes scatter the vine's strength, too few dam it up.

Criteria

It is measured in eyes per vine
It steers the number of shoots and thereby the yield
It is adjusted to vigour and site
It is set before budbreak, not after

Distinction

Bud load ≠ vine age: vine age is given, a set bud number is chosen anew each year. Unlike a green harvest, bud load acts before budbreak, not as a correction in summer.