C4 - The Vine

Question 1

What are the most important species in modern viticulture?

Answer 1

Vitis Vinifera

American vines

Question 2

Which vine species produces nearly all the grapes used in winemaking?

Answer 2

Vitis Vinifera

Question 3

Why are American vines rarely used to produce grapes for winemaking?

Answer 3

Their grapes are widely considered to have unattractive flavours

Question 4

Why are American grapevine species important?

Answer 4

They are resistant to Phylloxera and consequently widely used to produce rootstocks onto which Vinifera vines are grafted

Question 5

What are the principal differences between grape varieties?

Answer 5

Colour and flavour

Question 6

What other factors may a grape grower be concerned with when selecting a grape variety?

Answer 6

Budding and ripening times

Resistance to certain diseases

Question 7

Which two methods may a grower use to preserve the unique qualities of a grape variety?

Answer 7

Cutting

Layering

Question 8

What is a cutting?

Answer 8

A section of a vine shoot that is planted and then grows as a new plant

Question 9

Which method of growing new plants is most commonly used in commercial nurseries?

Answer 9

Cutting

Question 10

Where does layering take place?

Answer 10

In the vineyard

Question 11

Describe layering

Answer 11

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 when this happens, the linking cane is cut.

Question 12

Which propagation method is more common? Why?

Answer 12

Cutting

Due to the risk of phylloxera

Question 13

How can several plants be identified as one variety?

Answer 13

They can all trace their lineage back through a series of cuttings and/or layering to a single plant

Question 14

What other term can be used for vine variety?

Answer 14

Grape variety

Question 15

Which word can be used instead of variety?

Answer 15

Cultivar

Question 16

Why may there still be variations between vines despite their being technically the same variety?

Answer 16

Mutations sometimes occur when the vines grow

Question 17

Which vines are more likely to be selected for further propagation?

Answer 17

Those which have developed positive/beneficial mutations

Question 18

What is clonal selection?

Answer 18

Choosing individual vines with beneficial mutations

Question 19

Each individual vine or group of vines that shows a particular set of unique characteristics is known as a …

Answer 19

Clone

Question 20

What will a grape grower often specify when ordering new plants from a nursery?

Answer 20

The clone as well as the variety

Question 21

List two varieties which are the result of more extreme mutations from Pinot Noir?

Answer 21

Pinot Gris and Pinot Blanc

Question 22

What is cross-fertilisation?

Answer 22

A method of creating a new variety under controlled conditions

Question 23

Describe cross-fertilisation

Answer 23

Pollen from the male part of the flower of one Vine is transferred to the female part of the flower of another vine and fertilisation occurs. The pollinated flowers develops into a grape with seeds. If the seed is planted and grows, it will be a new variety.

Question 24

Can a grape’s characteristics be predicted when cross pollination occurs?

Answer 24

No, there is no way of knowing

Question 25

Why is it costly and time-consuming to create a new variety?

Answer 25

Hundreds of seeds are required Many seedlings fail in the first year Producers must wait 2-3 years before the survivors flower and produce fruit It takes longer to prove the value of the new variety

Question 26

How is a crossing defined?

Answer 26

A new variety which is produced from two parents of the same species

Question 27

Give an example of a crossing

Answer 27

Cabernet Sauvignon (Cab Franc x Sauvignon Blanc)

Question 28

What is a hybrid?

Answer 28

A vine whose parents come from two different vine species

Question 29

What are hybrids and American vine crossings most commonly used for?

Answer 29

Rootstocks

Question 30

What is Phylloxera?

Answer 30

An insect that is native to North America which Vinifera is unable to defend itself against

Question 31

What caused wholesale destruction of European vineyards in the nineteenth century?

Answer 31

Phylloxera when it was accidentally introduced

Question 32

...has a very complex lifecycle

Answer 32

Phylloxera

Question 33

What is the most harmful phase of Phylloxera's lifecycle to a vine? What happens?

Answer 33

When it lives underground and feeds on the roots of the vine. Infection enters through the feeding wound, weakening and eventually killing the vine.

Question 34

How do American varieties protect themselves against Phylloxera?

Answer 34

They clog the aphid's mouth with a sticky sap and form a protective layer behind the feeding wounds to prevent secondary infection

Question 35

Strict quarantine procedures have successfully protected which areas against Phylloxera?

Answer 35

Chile, parts of Argentina and South Australia

Question 36

What was the only protection against Phylloxera when it first hit Europe?

Answer 36

American species or hybrids

Question 37

What was the better, but more expensive solution to Phylloxera which was found at the end of the 19th century?

Answer 37

Using American vines/hybrids as rootstocks

Question 38

Give two other advantages to some rootstocks other than resistance to Phylloxera

Answer 38

Protection against Nematodes | Drought resistance

Question 39

What is grafting?

Answer 39

It is the technique used to join a rootstock to a Vinifera variety

Question 40

What is the most popular modern grafting technique?

Answer 40

Bench grafting

Question 41

What does bench grafting involve?

Answer 41

Short sections of cane from both varieties are joined together by machine and stored in a warm environment to encourage fusion

Question 42

What is the less common type of grafting?

Answer 42

Head grafting

Question 43

When is head grafting used?

Answer 43

When a grape grower with an established vineyard decides to switch to different variety between seasons

Question 44

How is head grafting performed?

Answer 44

The existing vine is cut back to its trunk | A bud or cutting of the new variety is grafted onto the trunk

Question 45

What are the biggest advantages of head grafting?

Answer 45

The new variety will grow in the forthcoming season (much quicker) It's much cheaper than replanting a whole vineyard

Question 46

What can be used to protect a graft join?

Answer 46

Wax

Question 47

What are leaves principally responsible for?

Answer 47

Photosynthesis

Question 48

Summarise photosynthesis

Answer 48

The process by which plants use sunlight to convert water and carbon dioxide into glucose and oxygen

Question 49

Describe buds

Answer 49

Form in the join between the leaf and the shoot They mature inside their casing, so that eventually they contain miniature all the structures that will become the shoot, leaves, flowers and tendrils

Question 50

Describe tendrils

Answer 50

Tendrils allow the vine to support itself by wrapping around a structure

Question 51

What are flowers?

Answer 51

The reproductive organs of the vine It has male and female parts It's grouped in bunches called inflorescences

Question 52

Describe berries

Answer 52

Each flower that is successfully pollinated, becomes a berry, so the inflorescences become bunches of grapes, which have evolved to be attractive to animals (encouraging dispersion)

Question 53

When do shoots turn woody?

Answer 53

During the winter after they have grown

Question 54

When do buds burst?

Answer 54

The spring after they have formed

Question 55

Why is it important to manage one year old wood?

Answer 55

Because vines will normally only produce fruit on shoots that grow from buds that developed the year before

Question 56

When is the vine usually pruned?

Answer 56

Every winter

Question 57

What is a cane?

Answer 57

One year old wood which is left with 8-20 buds

Question 58

What is a spur?

Answer 58

One year old wood which is left with 2-3 buds after pruning

Question 59

What is permanent wood?

Answer 59

Wood that is more than one year old

Question 60

Where is the permanent wood on the vine usually?

Answer 60

The trunk and the arms

Question 61

What are the functions of the roots?

Answer 61

To absorb water and nutrients from the soil To anchor the vine To store carbohydrates for the winter