4 - The Vine

Question 1

What is the main Eurasian specie of Vine?

Answer 1

Vitis vinifera

Question 2

Why are not American vines used for winemaking?

What are they used for - and why?

Answer 2

• the wines they produce are widely considered to have unattractive flavours
• rootstocks for grafting. Resistant to Phylloxera

Question 3

Varieties (def)

Answer 3

A group of individual plants that can all trace their lineage back through a series of cuttings and/or layerings to a single plant (genetically identical)

Question 4

Other words for ‘vine variety’

Answer 4

‘grape variety’
‘vine cultivar’
‘grape cultivar’

Question 5

Difference between varieties

Answer 5

• colour
• flavour
• fruit quality
• budding & ripening times
• resistance to certain diseases

Question 6

How a variety is grown/propagated (new plant identical to the original)

Answer 6

1. cutting
2. layering

Question 7

What is ‘cutting’?

Answer 7

A section of a vine shoot that is planted and then grows as a new plant.
Widely used in commercial nurseries.
Most used due to risk of Phylloxera (grafting).

Question 8

What is ‘layering’?

Answer 8

In the vineyard.
A cane is bent down and a section of it is buried in the ground. The cane tip points upwards out of the ground.
The buried section takes root, and once these roots are established, the cane linking the new growth to the original plant is cut.

Question 9

What are ‘clones’?

Answer 9

Mutations when the vine grows –> clones.
Each individual vine or group of vines that shows a particular set of unique characteristics.

Question 10

Difference between clones, and ex.

Answer 10

small –> considered the same variety.
Some mutations have such a significant effect that resulting plants are treated as if they were new varieties.

Pinot Noir –> Pinot Blanc & Pinot Gris
(clones, but threated as varieties)

Question 11

clonal selection

Answer 11

vines with positive mutations are selected for further propagation

Question 12

how do we get new varieties?

Answer 12

By cross-fertilisation –> planted seeds give new varieties

Question 13

cross-fertilisation

Answer 13

pollen from the male part of a flower of one vine is transferred to the female part of a flower of another vine
–> fertilisation
–> grape with seeds
–> planted seed
–> new variety with different genetic material from the parents

Question 14

crossings, def & ex.

Answer 14

Variety from two parents of the same species.
Term normally reserved for new varieties that were bred by researchers.

ex:
Cab.Franc x Sauv.Bl. –> Cab.Sauv.
Rsl x Madeleine Royale –> Müller-Thurgau
PN x Cinsault –> Pinotage

Question 15

hybrids, def & ex.

Answer 15

variety from two parents of different vine species
ex:
Vidal in Canada

Question 16

The anatomy of the Vine

Answer 16

1. The green parts
   (shoots, leaves, buds, tendrils, flowers, berries)
2. One year old wood
   (cane/spur)
3. Permanent wood
   (trunk, arm)
4. Roots

Question 17

shoots

Answer 17

The new growth a vine produces each year.
Along the length of each shoot: leaves, buds, tendrils, flowers, berries

Question 18

leaves

Answer 18

the plants engine, responsible for photosynthesis
6CO2 + 6H20 –> sun/energy –> C6H12O6 + 6O2

Question 19

buds

Answer 19

Embryonic shoots.
Mature during the growing season.

Question 20

tendrils

Answer 20

grip a supporting structure

Question 21

flowers

Answer 21

The vine’s reproductive organs. Both male & female parts.

Question 22

Inflorescence

Answer 22

group/bunch of flowers/grapes

Question 23

berries

Answer 23

each pollinated flower will become a berry (grape)

Question 24

one year old wood

Answer 24

shoots turn woody during the winter after they have grown.
Buds from the previous year –> shoots

Question 25

cane

Answer 25

pruned long, 8-20 buds

Question 26

spur

Answer 26

pruned short, 2-3 buds

Question 27

permanent wood

Answer 27

more than 1yo.
Amount restricted by pruning

Question 28

roots

Answer 28

• absorb water & nutrients
• anchor the vine
• store carbohydrates

Question 29

Phylloxera

Answer 29

Insect native to North America –> Europe 19th century
Complex life cycle w diff forms.
Feeding on roots –> feeding wounds –> infections –> weakened & dies after years.
American vines: clogging its mouth w sticky sap, and form a protective layer behind the feeding wound.
Exceptions: Chile, some parts of Argentina & South Australia.
Protection against inf.: strict quarantine procedures.

Question 30

Rootstocks

Answer 30

End of 19th century: grafting of V. Vinifera onto hybrid or am.vine-rootst.

Am.vinerootst.: problem in alkaline soil (limest., chalky, calcereous) –> chlorosis etc. Hybrids better adjusted to the soil.

Other advantages: prot. against nematodes, better resist. to drought cond.

Question 31

Grafting (def & 2 types)

Answer 31

The technique used to join a rootst. to a V. Vinifera variety
- Bench grafting
- Head grafting

Question 32

Bench grafting

Answer 32

short section of cane from both the V.V. variety and the rootstock var. are joined together and stored in a warm anvironment –> encourage the two parts to fuse together –> planted

Question 33

Head grafting

Answer 33

The existing vine in the vineyard is cut back to its trunk and a bud or a cutting of the new variety is grafted onto the trunk