2.7.1.b What is the "normal" annual replacement planting percentage for a plot?

What causes the vines to die?

High mortality rates can raise questions about the problem's origin: why are so many vines dying in the plot? Are any diseases present?

• Wood diseases: these often cause damage to foliage and bunches, but also impact the vine's wood and can threaten the vineyard's sustainability, which is the case for Esca in particular Wood disease and Virus management

• The passage of machinery, damage caused by animals or operators: the passage of agricultural machinery can cause the accidental uprooting of vines. Repeated passage of tractors in poor conditions can create hardpan and compact different layers in the soil. The hardness of the soil and the lack of oxygen can cause anoxia or hypoxia for the vines, to the detriment of the young plants.

• Technical practices/operations: certain operations, when not performed optimally, can reduce a plot's production potential due to a high mortality rate. This can happen, for example, when planting is not carried out at the right time or when young plants are not sufficiently irrigated in the early years after planting. Certain winter pruning practices can weaken the vines and cause them to be contaminated by wood diseases due to numerous pruning wounds with large diameters, the absence of a desiccation cone, etc.

• Management method: the existence of deficiencies or toxicity can lead to the weakening of vines and even death.

• The plot's age can impact the mortality rate. The older a plot is, the more pruning practices year after year may have caused constriction, injury and/or pruning wounds. Young vines may also suffer from apoplectic forms of wood diseases, or from a drought if their roots are shallow.

• Weather conditions: in particular, winter and/or spring frosts, drought or water excess can aggravate the effects of diseases.