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Vine Pruner courses are the basic level of our classes where we cover the fundamental aspects and principles of SIMONIT&SIRCH pruning on the most popular forms of training: Guyot and Spurred Cordon
In the Vine Pruner Advanced courses you will learn how to manage plant development from the earliest stages of growth through to the most advanced ages.
In Vine Pruner Advanced 2 courses we will focus on restructuring and converting vineyards to SIMONIT&SIRCH Pruning.
The Vine Pruner Advanced 2 II course will be available from winter 2023
With the Vine Pruner Advanced and Vine Pruner Advanced 2 courses you will be able to participate in Pruning Schools and the exam. From Italy to Spain to California they will be a real trip around the world.
- Our online courses
- basic courses
- advanced courses
- free courses
Simonit&Sirch is an international consulting and training company in vine pruning founded about thirty years ago by the Italians Marco Simonit and Pierpaolo Sirch, with headquarters in Friuli Venezia Giulia and branches in Bordeaux, Napa Valley and South Africa, We are known as Vine Master Pruners and our consulting is required by the most prestigious worldwide wineries.
Our mission, since 1998, is to rediscover pruning as craftsmanship, thorough training courses and tutoring. We have developed a pruning method, that we transfer to pruners with a precise and rigorous path of mentoring, with the aim of enhancing the know-how in the vineyard. The company provides its services to 150 companies, and works in 15 countries in the most important worldwide wine regions. In January 2021, we opened the Vine Master Pruners Academy, the world’s first digital platform dedicated to vine pruning training. The training project includes online training courses alongside practice in the vineyard. In 2009 it created the Italian Vine Pruning School, followed by Napa Valley Pruning School (Napa Valley College), UK Pruning School (Plumpton College), Rebschintt Schule (Hochschule GeisenheimUniversity) and the Hungarian Pruning School (Egger University).
In 2016, in collaboration with the ISVV, SIMOINT&SIRCH established the DUTE Diplôme Universitaire de Taille et Épamprage in Bordeaux, the only university Master’s degree for pruning and shoot thinning selection in the world. In January 2021, we opened the Vine Master Pruners Academy, the world’s first digital platform dedicated to training in vine pruning. The training project includes online training courses alongside practice in the vineyard. Marco Simonit has published two Vine Pruning Manuals, dedicated to Spurred Cordon and Guyot. The French version of the latter, “Guide pratique de la taille Guyot – Prévenir les maladies du bois”, in 2018 won the OIV 2018 International Award in the Viticulture section.
A unique pruning method
Simonit&Sirch Pruning is based on four fundamental principles applicable to all vine training systems. From our experience we have learnt that assist with pruning the natural ability of the vine to branching is the way to ensure vines an healthier and longer life.
Controlled Branching. Learn to give a defined shape to the structure of the vine, promoting healthy growth with controlled branching.
Continuity of the sap flow. Throughout the structure of the plant. The second principle of the SIMONIT&SIRCH pruning concerns the continuity of the sap flow, the pathway of translocation between the roots and the canopy, throughout the entire structure of the vine.
Respecting the crown (basal) buds. Learn to make small cuts on one- or two-year-old wood and respect the crown (basal) buds. Precision pruning reduces the area of the exposed wound and the consequent desiccation.
Spare wood. An additional defense for the grape vine. Learn to prune allowing for a portion of protective wood when cutting on two-year-old wood or older wood, to reduce the effects of desiccation.