4: The Vine Flashcards
What are the 2 vine species that are most important in modern viticulture and what are their uses and origin ?
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
What will a grape grower be considering when selecting grapes?
•Taste and quality
as well as
•budding and ripening times
•Resistance to disease
“In order to understand a grape variety, it is necessary to understand how the variety is ___ and ____. “ and can not be done using ____
•grown
•propagated
•seeds
What are the 2 techniques to preserve a varietal and give a general explanation of what they are.
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
Grape growers use only cutting than layering due to the risk of?
Phylloxera
Define grape variety
A traced lineage through cuttings (or layerings) back to a single plant
What word is sometimes used instead of grape variety?
Cultivar
What are some potential positive benefits of mutations from clones
•Better quality in fruit
•Better resistance to disease
Define clonal selection and what has it led to?
•Positively mutated vines that propagated via cutting or layering.
•The development of different clones
What is a clone?
Individual or a group of vines that show unique characteristics
(Typically small changes)
Mutations that have changed considerably are treated as?
New varieties
(Ex: Pinot Gris, Pinot Noir = from Pinot)
What is cross fertilization and what is it used for?
•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
Traditionally, why should a producer have to wait 2-3 years to see what types of characteristics a cross fertilized grape?
Vines that are cross fertilized will be an entirely different variety
Why do new grape varietals never appear in the market despite advances in cross fertilization science?
Resistance from the consumer
What are the green parts of the vine?
•Leaves
•Tendrils
•Buds
•Flowers
•Berries
All grown on a shoot (also green)
Grow every new year
Define a One-year-old Wood
Shoots turn woody in winter and the next spring are considered one year wood to which buds grow on and turn into shoots
Why is management of one year wood vital?
How is it managed?
•Vines will normally only make fruit on shoots that are grown from buds
•Pruned every winter into either canes or spurs
How many buds do cane and spurs typically have?
•cane long with 8-20 buds
•spur short with 2-3 buds
What is permanent wood?
Wood that is over a year old and is made up of the trunk and arms
What is the function of the roots?
To absorb water and nutrients, anchor, and store carbohydrates for winter.
What is the 4 sections of anatomy of a vine?
• Green parts
• One year old wood
• Permanent wood
• Roots
What are the tendrils of the vine used for?
To stay upright by gripping a supportive structure
What are embryonic shoots and what do they do?
•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
What is the purpose of the leaves
Photosynthesis (water and CO2 converted into glucose and oxygen from sunlight)
What are the flowers of the vine?
Both male and female organs grouped into inflorescences (bunches)
A pollinated flower will become a berry
Define inflorescences
Flowers on a vine grouped into bunches
How are seeds naturally dispersed?
Evolved to attract animals to eat them
What is a crossing?
“ 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.
Define a hybrid
A vine with parents of different species and will usually have at least one American vine as a parent
In modern grape growing ____ and American ____ play a crucial role as rootstocks
• Hybrids
• Vine
What is a notable exception to of an American vine being used in winemaking?
Vidal from Canada
What is Phylloxera?
A North American native insect with the ability to cause distraction to an entire vineyard in Europe after being accidentally introduced
Phylloxera has a complex life cycle and takes different forms throughout the year, but what is the most devastating to a vine?
Lives Underground feeding on the roots leaving openings for infections to enter leaving the vine to weaken and die in a few years time.
How does the American vine grafted to the rootstock of V. Vinifera offer slight protection from phylloxera?
Clogging it’s mouth with sap and leaving protective layers over feeding wound to prevent secondary infections
What is the only way to prevent infections from Phylloxera?
Strict quarantine
Where is Phylloxera a problem?
In almost every vineyard of the world with few exceptions such Chile and parts of Argentina
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?
•Specific rootstocks may protect against nematodes
•Better resistance to drought
Define Grafting
The technique that joins a rootstock to a V. Vinifera
What is bench grafting
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
What is head grafting?
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.
What is the benefit of head grafting to a grower?
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
