JULY

Radiance of sunny mornings, crushing heat at noon, intense colour of the twilights without end: it is summer. The days are so hot that the heat is extended until late into the night. Only the light breezes, the result of the difference in temperature between the lake and the forests of the Jorat, blow gently along the slopes of the Lavaux and arouse some shiver on the quiet undulation of the Léman.
The vine likes the warm weather and as it is a liana, it stretches and spreads out in the sun. The winegrower has to stop its crazy and encroaching run. Above all he must create a balance between the strongest and weakest canes so that all of them have access to the sun.
With shears (a large scissor that we have to manipulate with the two hands) we cut all the sprouts that go beyond the space that has been allocated to them. We generally have to cut three times to master this excess of vegetation. It is better to start pruning rather early in order to direct the strength towards the leaves and the grapes that have already the size of a pinhead. Pruning the vine is a pleasant and pleasing task, there is no need again to bend down, except at times to fix a shoot that was overlooked by the ladies.
Of course I always carry with me some hooks and rattan, which is attached to my belt. I work in shorts and wear a straw hat. I operate my shears in step, from time to time accompanied by a melody in my head. Sometimes I act like a barber, figaro here and figaro there, I cut the twigs only to look nice, for the excitement, to finish off well. Having completed a plot, I take pleasure in observing my well-cut vine, nothing stretches out and there are no holes either. All the vine-stocks mingle together and form a whole, a unit, a vineyard.
In July the fight against parasites has to be continued and the fast developing grapes have to be squirted. The leaves have also to be kept in good health so that they may play their role in providing adequate nutrition.