1.1.2.b What is an ideal average annual percentage to grub up?

How long should a plot remain in production?

The longer one wishes to keep a plot in production, the less one should grub up annually. A common belief is that one plants for a full century cycle, though realistically, this is a complicated objective to achieve. According to this guideline, it is sufficient to replant the equivalent of 1% of the total surface per year (on average). It is more realistic to plan for a 75-year cycle, even though some parcels will go beyond this. In this case, 1.5% of the vineyard is renewed every year.

What is the vineyard's surface area?

The management of a grubbing-up schedule over a large surface area can be conducted without jeopardizing production, but it quickly becomes increasingly difficult when production is spread over multiple appellations or in cases where production is limited.

The most telling examples are in the vineyards of Burgundy. Many estates have very fragmented plots of land, spread over different appellations and/or climates. A grubbing-up cycle is therefore complicated and sometimes impossible to plan without potentially a complete production loss concerning one appellation over several years. Indeed, an effective grubbing-up requires that sufficient surface area be removed. Otherwise, select vine replanting is carried out but notably this does not resolve any virus issues.

At Clos de Tart - where the entire production belongs to one single appellation - a theoretical long-term uprooting schedule has been drawn up to properly estimate the long-term potential production of the estate. In this case the timeline extends to 2080. The schedule will not necessarily be followed exactly as planned, but it enables the estate to better prioritize which plots will need to be uprooted according to how their condition evolves.

What is the vineyard's average age?

When the vineyard is older, the replanting percentage in the initial few years may be substantial in order to establish a balanced cycle after the initial reorganization phase.