Viticulture in Jerez: grapevine pruning
The vines are pruned in the Guyot system, known locally as vara y pulgar (stick and thumb). A vine has two permanent branches, which are used in alternate years. The vara is a long fruiting cane that is cut off at the end of the year. The pulgar is left with two fruiting buds (to be sure one is available next year to form the vara) The vara gives 7-9 grape bunches. There is some pressure to allow two varas, which would effectively be a double guyot, and this may be permitted by the new rules. The grapevine is allowed to have a lot of leaves, both to pick up humidity from the wind (the sole source of moisture during the summer) and to shade the grapes from the sun.

Viticulture in Jerez: harvesting
Some companies make table wine from the same vines that are used to make Sherry, and this can cause some conflict over harvesting, because the grapes need to be picked earlier to maintain the freshness required for a table wine. Typically in these circumstances, the first grapes to be picked will be used for the table wine, the last will be used for Sherry. Growers who grapes are used only for Sherry tend to pick later to get higher potential alcohol levels. However, pressure from growers has caused harvest dates to move earlier. About half of the vineyards are farmed by integrated production techniques.

Viticulture in Jerez: yield limits
Total production is limited to 11,428 kilos/ha (this corresponds to 80 hl/ha) of which only 9,500 may be used to make Sherry (the exact level can change from year to year); the rest can be used to make table wine or can be distilled. A single grapevine develops 7-9 bunches on the vara and produces ~3 kg of grapes. The Bodegas pay growers by the kilo, so there is no incentive for reduction of yield or increase in quality; the price is roughly €400 per kilo. Palomino Fino cannot be harvested below 10.5° Baumé; the typical level is 11.0°, with relatively low acidity of 3.7 g/l. Pedro Ximénez typically is harvested at 12.8° Baumé and higher acidity of 4.5 g/l. Moscatel harvests at 11.7° Baumé and 4.1 g/l acid.

Vineyards in Jerez
Many of the features of viticulture result from the very hot climate. Changes are being introduced in response to the decision in 2001 to allow mechanization. Prior to then, harvesting had to be manual unless specific permission was granted to use mechanization. (The reason was partly in order to support employment levels; more recently a shortage of pickers has changed the situation). The traditional system of planting vines for Sherry production was the Marco Real, with a separation between vines of 1.5 × 1.5m, but the introduction of mechanization has changed this to a grid of 1.15 × 2. 30 m. Vines are now being trained at 80 cm. rather than the traditional 60 cm. in order to assist mechanization. Presently about 10% of vineyards are harvested mechanically. Remember that temperatures are high when the grapes are picked, so rapidity and good handling are essential. Vines used to be planted in an alternating pattern that was considered to make best use of the land, but now they are usually planted in rows running horizontal to the slope. There used to be 3500-4000 vines per hectare, but the number in new vineyards is now closer to 4500. Aserpiado (mounds of earth running along the slope) are used to minimize water runoff and retain rainfall. New vineyards are usually established by grafting rootstocks in the field (because local economics make this cheaper than purchasing grafted plants from nurseries). Grapes are used for distillation for the first four years.