Gobelet pruning: Beaujolais heritage, or economic trap?

When you walk our vines in Morgon or Chiroubles, you often see these low, gnarled stocks, hugging the ground, like hands opened to the sky. That's the "Gobelet" cut.

It's the postcard image of Beaujolais. Historical, beautiful, and the Gamay grape loves it. Except that for us, vignerons in 2025, the gobelet has become a real headache.

The tractor problem.

Gobelet was planted in an age when mechanisation didn't exist (or barely did). Rows are tight, the vine sprawls. Simple consequence: the tractor doesn't fit. Impossible to use a straddle tractor for mechanical weeding or to work the soil under the row.

The "all by hand" dead end.

If the machine can't pass, you bring in the hand. But working 3 hectares entirely with hoe and winch, organically (no chemical weedkiller), means an astronomical labour cost. Today, some gobelet parcels cost more to maintain than they bring in as grapes. It's a cruel reality threatening many old vines in the region: within ten years, many risk being abandoned, simply because they don't pay.

Our choice at Bugnazet.

We refuse to let our vines die. But we have to be realistic. We have 3 hectares (Morgon, Fleurie, Chiroubles, Moulin-à-Vent). We can't do everything by hand without shutting the doors. So we launched a major transformation project.

The idea? Keep our old vines (because they make the best wine), but adapt their shape to allow mechanical tools through — and over time, to do without chemistry altogether. We call this "trellising". And trust us, it's surgical work… (more in the next post!)