4. The Vine Flashcards
Name the main Eurasian species of vine.
Vitis vinifera
What is the main vine species used in winemaking?
Vitis vinifera
How long has Vitis vinifera been used to make wine?
Several thousand years
Why are the 3 species of vines native to North America rarely used to produce grapes for winemaking? Why are they beneficial?
-Unattractive flavors
Why are the native North American vines beneficial? What are they used for?
- Resistant to Phylloxera (vine pest that attacks roots)
- Used to produce rootstocks onto which V. vinifera vines are grafted
Why are the main differences between grape varieties to consumers and to growers?
Consumers: color and flavor
Growers: budding/ripening times, resistance to diseases
What are the two techniques used to preserved the unique qualities of a variety?
Cutting and Layering
What is a cutting? Where is this method most widely used?
A cutting is a section of a vine shoot that is planted and then grows as a new plant. Most widely used at commercial nurseries that sell vines to growers.
What is layering?
- Takes place in the vineyard
- A cane is bent down and a section of it is buried. The cane tip points upwards out of the ground. The buried section takes root. The cane linking the new growth to the original plant is cut.
Due to phylloxera risk, which method of preserving grape varieties is better?
Cuttings
What word is sometimes used synonymously with ‘variety’?
Cultivar
What is clonal selection?
When vines with positive utatopms are se;ected for further propagation by cutting or layering, so that the positive characteristics of these vines can be carried forward in new plantings.
Examples: better fruit quality, better resistance to disease
What is a clone?
- Each individual vine or group of vines that shows a particular set of unique characteristics
- Typically so similar that they’re still the same grape variety however some mutations have such a significant effect that they resulting plants are treated as new varieties.
Name two examples of clones that mutated into their own variety.
Pinot Gris and Pinot Blanc (from Pinot Noir)
What is cross-fertilization? What is the result?
In order to find new, better grape varieties, researchers take the pollen from the male part of a flower of one vine and transfer it to the female part of the flower of another vine for fertilization. The pollinated flower develops into a grape with seeds that can be planted and grown into a new variety.
- The result is a new grape variety (even if the parents are the same).
- Process is difficult and time-consuming.
What is a crossing? What is the term typically reserved for? Name two well-know examples.
When a new variety is produced from two parents of the same species
-Technically, every grape variety used today is a crossing but its reserved for varieties bred by researchers.
Examples:
1. Muller Thurgau (Riesling X Madeleine Royale)
2. Pinotage (Pinot Noir X Cinsault)
What is a hybrid? What is it typically used for?
A vine whose parents come from two different vine species. Will typically have at least one American vine as a parent.
Used as rootstocks, not typically used in winemaking.
Name the four parts of a vine.
- Green parts
- One-year-old wood
- Permanent wood
- Roots
What parts of the vine grow new each year?
The green parts:
- Leaves
- Buds
- Tendrils
- Flowers/Berries
- Shoot
What are buds? Where do they form? What will they become?
- Form in between leaf and shoot.
- “Embryonic shoots”
- Mature inside their casing, each bud contains in miniature all the structures that will become the shoot, leaves. flowers, and tendrils the following year.
What is the main responsibility of the leaves? Why is glucose important?
- Plant’s engine
- responsible for photosynthesis (plants use sunlight to convert water and CO2 to glucose and oxygen)
- Glucose is a sugar that is used to support vine growth and make ripe grapes tastes sweet.
What is the purpose of the tendrils?
Support the vine; grips a supporting structure in order to stay upright
What are flowers? What will they become?
The vine’s reproductive organs; have both male and female parts. Each flower that is successfully pollinated will become a berry.
What is one-year-old wood? Why is it important in grape growing?
During the winter after shoots have grown, they turn woody. The following spring, they become one-year-old wood. Buds become shoots.
-Important because typically vines with only produce fruit on the shoot that grow from the buds that developed in the previous year.
What is permanent wood? How is it restricted?
- Wood that is more than 1 year old.
- Restricted by pruning.
What is a cane?
One-year-old wood that is long with 8-20 buds
What is a spur?
One-year-old wood that is short and only has 2-3 buds.
What is Phylloxera? How does it affect grape-growing? What happened to European vineyards in the 19th century?
- An insect native to North America
- During 1 phase of its yearly cycle, lives underground and feeds on the roots of the vines
- Accidentally introduced to vineyards of Europe causing wholesale destruction
How are American vines able to protect themselves from phylloxera?
- Evolved with Phylloxera
- Clogs the louse’s mouth with a sticky sap
- Formed protective layers behind the feeding wound
Where is phylloxera a problem today? Which sites are immune?
Everywhere
-Immune: Chile, parts of Argentina and South Australia
What is the only method to protect agains Phylloxera infection?
Strict quarantine procedures
When Phylloxera initially hit Europe, what was the only way to overcome it? What was the better solution that was found afterwards?
- Plant American species or hybrids
- Grafting Vitis Vinefera onto the rootstock of an American vine or hybrid
What are three of the benefits of using rootstocks?
- Resistance to Phylloxera
- Protection against nematodes
- Better resistance to drought conditions
What is grafting? Name the two methods of grafting.
The technique used to join a rootstock to a V. Vinifera variety.
- Bench Grafting
- Head Grafting
What is bench grafting? Where is it typically used?
Short sections of the cane from both the V. vinifere variety and the rootstock are joined together by machine and stored in a warm environment in order to encourage the two part to fuse together. Then planted.
-Used by specialist plant nurseries
What is head grafting? Where is it typically used?
Existing vine is cut back to its trunk and a bud or cutting of the new variety is grafted onto the trunk.
- Used if a grape grower with an established vineyard wants to switch to a different grape variety between seasons.
- Speeds up process (don’t have to replant and wait years).
How long does it typically take a newly planted vine to produce a commercial crop?
3 years
