Abstract: China wine grape culture area has increased year after year.Wine grape need pruning work before entering the winter which is mainly by artificial.Artificial pruning is high labor intensity，low efficiency and high cost.A kind of mechanization pruning machine for wine grape pruning operations before winter was devised，which included frame，automatic obstacle avoidance device and hydraulic rotation type pruning device.A field experiment at cabernet sauvignon grape vine was carried out to test factors of cutting knife rotation rate and operating speed.Test results proved that cut off rate achieved 98.3% at 3.0 km/h operating speed and 2 000 r/min cutting knife rotation rate.Cut off rate achieved 100% if cutting knife rotation rate was greater than 2 500 r/min.Cut off rate also achieved 100% when cutting knife rotation rate was 2 000 r/min and operating speed was from 1.0 to 2.0 km/h.Reliability test showed grape vine pruning machine time utilization ratio was 86.4% and average efficiency was 0.05 hm2/h.Performance of grape vine pruning machine achieved its design goal which could adjust height and width of pruning efficiently and have good function of automatic obstacle avoidance.High efficiency region was at cutting knife from 2 000 to 3 000 r/min and operating speed from 1.0 to 5.0 km/h.