4: The Vine

Question 1

What are the 2 vine species that are most important in modern viticulture and what are their uses and origin ?

Answer 1

Vitis vinifera
•Europe
•Produces nearly all of the grapes in winemaking
American vines
•Rarely used to make wine but used to produce woodstocks onto grafted vinifera
•Resistant to Phylloxera

Question 2

What will a grape grower be considering when selecting grapes?

Answer 2

•Taste and quality
as well as
•budding and ripening times
•Resistance to disease

Question 3

“In order to understand a grape variety, it is necessary to understand how the variety is ___ and ____. “ and can not be done using ____

Answer 3

•grown
•propagated
•seeds

Question 4

What are the 2 techniques to preserve a varietal and give a general explanation of what they are.

Answer 4

Cutting
A vine shoot section that is planted and grows into a new plant
Layering
In a vineyard; Cane is bent down and partly buried into the ground and takes root while the tip points upward out of the ground and once fully rooted, the cane linking new growth of original plant is cut

Question 5

Grape growers use only cutting than layering due to the risk of?

Answer 5

Phylloxera

Question 6

Define grape variety

Answer 6

A traced lineage through cuttings (or layerings) back to a single plant

Question 7

What word is sometimes used instead of grape variety?

Answer 7

Cultivar

Question 8

What are some potential positive benefits of mutations from clones

Answer 8

•Better quality in fruit
•Better resistance to disease

Question 9

Define clonal selection and what has it led to?

Answer 9

•Positively mutated vines that propagated via cutting or layering.
•The development of different clones

Question 10

What is a clone?

Answer 10

Individual or a group of vines that show unique characteristics
(Typically small changes)

Question 11

Mutations that have changed considerably are treated as?

Answer 11

New varieties
(Ex: Pinot Gris, Pinot Noir = from Pinot)

Question 12

What is cross fertilization and what is it used for?

Answer 12

•Pollen is collected in a controlled condition from a male portion of a flower from a vine and transferred to another vine to be fertilized by a female part of a flower and devoid into a grape with seeds
•A new varietal

Question 13

Traditionally, why should a producer have to wait 2-3 years to see what types of characteristics a cross fertilized grape?

Answer 13

Vines that are cross fertilized will be an entirely different variety

Question 14

Why do new grape varietals never appear in the market despite advances in cross fertilization science?

Answer 14

Resistance from the consumer

Question 15

What are the green parts of the vine?

Answer 15

•Leaves
•Tendrils
•Buds
•Flowers
•Berries
All grown on a shoot (also green)
Grow every new year

Question 16

Define a One-year-old Wood

Answer 16

Shoots turn woody in winter and the next spring are considered one year wood to which buds grow on and turn into shoots

Question 17

Why is management of one year wood vital?
How is it managed?

Answer 17

•Vines will normally only make fruit on shoots that are grown from buds
•Pruned every winter into either canes or spurs

Question 18

How many buds do cane and spurs typically have?

Answer 18

•cane long with 8-20 buds
•spur short with 2-3 buds

Question 19

What is permanent wood?

Answer 19

Wood that is over a year old and is made up of the trunk and arms

Question 20

What is the function of the roots?

Answer 20

To absorb water and nutrients, anchor, and store carbohydrates for winter.

Question 21

What is the 4 sections of anatomy of a vine?

Answer 21

• Green parts
• One year old wood
• Permanent wood
• Roots

Question 22

What are the tendrils of the vine used for?

Answer 22

To stay upright by gripping a supportive structure

Question 23

What are embryonic shoots and what do they do?

Answer 23

•The bud that sits between a leaf and the shoot
•Mature in protective casing during growing season and by end of the year are mini versions of shoots, leaves, flowers, and tendrils

Question 24

What is the purpose of the leaves

Answer 24

Photosynthesis (water and CO2 converted into glucose and oxygen from sunlight)

Question 25

What are the flowers of the vine?

Answer 25

Both male and female organs grouped into inflorescences (bunches)
A pollinated flower will become a berry

Question 26

Define inflorescences

Answer 26

Flowers on a vine grouped into bunches

Question 27

How are seeds naturally dispersed?

Answer 27

Evolved to attract animals to eat them

Question 28

What is a crossing?

Answer 28

“ A new variety produced from 2 parents of the same species.”
•Technically all species today are crossings but the term is mostly used for new varieties bred by researchers.

Question 29

Define a hybrid

Answer 29

A vine with parents of different species and will usually have at least one American vine as a parent

Question 30

In modern grape growing ____ and American ____ play a crucial role as rootstocks

Answer 30

• Hybrids
• Vine

Question 31

What is a notable exception to of an American vine being used in winemaking?

Answer 31

Vidal from Canada

Question 32

What is Phylloxera?

Answer 32

A North American native insect with the ability to cause distraction to an entire vineyard in Europe after being accidentally introduced

Question 33

Phylloxera has a complex life cycle and takes different forms throughout the year, but what is the most devastating to a vine?

Answer 33

Lives Underground feeding on the roots leaving openings for infections to enter leaving the vine to weaken and die in a few years time.

Question 34

How does the American vine grafted to the rootstock of V. Vinifera offer slight protection from phylloxera?

Answer 34

Clogging it’s mouth with sap and leaving protective layers over feeding wound to prevent secondary infections

Question 35

What is the only way to prevent infections from Phylloxera?

Answer 35

Strict quarantine

Question 36

Where is Phylloxera a problem?

Answer 36

In almost every vineyard of the world with few exceptions such Chile and parts of Argentina

Question 37

Since the discovery of American vine being grafted to the rootstock of V. Vinifera to assist with Phylloxera, what other benefits was it found to have?

Answer 37

•Specific rootstocks may protect against nematodes
•Better resistance to drought

Question 38

Define Grafting

Answer 38

The technique that joins a rootstock to a V. Vinifera

Question 39

What is bench grafting

Answer 39

Modern and popular technique that involves an automated/mechanized process by specialist plant nurseries whom take short sections of cane, join, and placed in warm environment to encourage a fusing of the plants

Question 40

What is head grafting?

Answer 40

A grower with established vineyard who wants to switch varieties between seasons will cut to its trunk with a bud or cutting grafted onto it.

Question 41

What is the benefit of head grafting to a grower?

Answer 41

Instead of waiting 3 years for a new vine to establish, it will quickly and more cheaply produce fruit within the next vintage to meet consumer demands