Sometimes, we put in efforts that are not rewarded in life, or we may never know if they are, because the returns on some of our work or efforts take so long to materialize that we may never see them.

For winegrowers like us, who have been working the vineyard for so many years, this is nothing new.

Referring to Finca El Chaconero is the same as saying it was one of the first three vineyards in Spain to plant foreign varieties, and to implement drip irrigation and trellising systems almost 40 years ago.

The beginnings were not easy (as they say), but maintaining a mature vineyard in full health (not just in terms of production) is even more difficult.

The mature vineyard has unparalleled qualitative strengths, which generally translates into extremely high-quality wines, but it also has a high rate of natural mortality.

And why does a vine naturally die?

There are several reasons, but the most important and relevant ones are two.

One of them is the pruning cuts, which are, on the other hand, an irreplaceable and necessary task. Imagine the cuts a vine has received over 40 years, and sometimes with more aggressive pruning because the plant required it.

Another reason is the lack of sufficient sap flow due to age. As a vine ages, the sap doesn’t flow as strongly.
When you combine both situations in the same plant, death is almost certain.

So what do we do when the vine has died?

Some might say, *“A dead king, a new king placed!!!”* But viticulture is more complicated than putting a king in place.

In a mature vineyard, you can’t replace a vine with a young plant because the surrounding vines have developed such a root system that it would suffocate the newly planted one. We have even observed that the roots have occupied the space of the vine that was dying. Therefore, we only have one option left: to resort to the technique called “jarro.”

The jarro is created by burying a shoot from the neighboring plant without pruning it and directing it to the spot where the dead plant was.

The shoot, which will become the future plant, must be long and of good thickness. It will live for 3 years, nourished by the mother vine (like an umbilical cord), until it has developed new roots and is capable of surviving independently. We’ve included this illustrative video so you can see much better how we perform this work in the vineyard.

After these 3 years, we will be able to cut the shoot because the new plant will be fully formed and in full operation.

Since nature is very wise, we have also observed that when the new plant is thriving and the shoot has not been cut, it is the young plant that starts feeding the mature plant.

Doesn’t this mother plant vs. daughter plant relationship sound familiar?
Whoever has a mature vineyard has a treasure.