You could be forgiven for thinking that at this time of year a vineyard trim would refer to the pruning of our vines – but not so. Today I am referring to the other trimming that has just taken place. Our family of sheep have just had their hair cut (or should that be fleece?) As you may know we make a big effort to be as Eco-friendly as possible in our vineyards and whilst we do not qualify for the full bio-dynamic certification, we still take as many steps as possible to minimise the level of intervention that is required. For example, we allow the grass to grow between our vines, which, under normal circumstances would require regular cutting by tractor. By putting sheep in our vineyards they can happily graze under the pergolas, not only keeping the grass down, but also providing a bit of natural fertiliser at the same time. Indeed the use of pergolas in our region probably evolved in order to accommodate this practice, as the poor local farmers (who lived from hand to mouth), could maximise the use of their small plots of land – growing crops and grazing cattle at the same time. Or at least that is one of the theories…. Naturally, when we plant new vines, we have to take steps to protect the young plants, as our sheep will quite naturally eat anything that’s green.

So, in today’s picture, you can see Galicia’s version of sheep shearing – not the tanned, muscle-bound, sweat-dripping, bare-chested young men wrestling on the ground as they do in the Hollywood films, but instead two men in blue overalls, wellies and rubber gloves, pinning the sheep to a table, with not a single chest hair in sight. Perhaps not quite as romantic, but effective nonetheless!

You could be forgiven for thinking that at this time of year a vineyard trim would refer to the pruning of our vines – but not so. Today I am referring to the other trimming that has just taken place. Our family of sheep have just had their hair cut (or should that be fleece?) As you may know we make a big effort to be as Eco-friendly as possible in our vineyards and whilst we do not qualify for the full bio-dynamic certification, we still take as many steps as possible to minimise the level of intervention that is required. For example, we allow the grass to grow between our vines, which, under normal circumstances would require regular cutting by tractor. By putting sheep in our vineyards they can happily graze under the pergolas, not only keeping the grass down, but also providing a bit of natural fertiliser at the same time. Indeed the use of pergolas in our region probably evolved in order to accommodate this practice, as the poor local farmers (who lived from hand to mouth), could maximise the use of their small plots of land – growing crops and grazing cattle at the same time. Or at least that is one of the theories…. Naturally, when we plant new vines, we have to take steps to protect the young plants, as our sheep will quite naturally eat anything that’s green.

So, in today’s picture, you can see Galicia’s version of sheep shearing – not the tanned, muscle-bound, sweat-dripping, bare-chested young men wrestling on the ground as they do in the Hollywood films, but instead two men in blue overalls, wellies and rubber gloves, pinning the sheep to a table, with not a single chest hair in sight. Perhaps not quite as romantic, but effective nonetheless!