vine guards, plastic tubes which became popular internationally in the 1980s and 1990s to protect young vines. As well as protecting vines from wind, they also protect from herbicides and vineyard pests, especially rabbits, and reduce vine-training costs, although in warmer wine regions they can create an excessively hot microclimate around the young plant. The guards are normally in place for one year, sometimes two. Wine tourists now witness coloured vine guards as the most obvious feature of new plantings.
