In the Vineyard (Viticulture)

Question 1

At what time of year does the grapevine growing season begin?

I.e. when are baby wines conceived?

Answer 1

spring

Just like your deciduous trees sprout buds and blossoms after the cold winter season, so too do grape vines start budding in the spring, marking the start of the growing season.

Question 2

At what time of year does the grapevine growing season end?

I.e. when are the grapes harvested?

Answer 2

autumn

The growing season culminates in the harvesting of fruit in the autumn months. Shortly thereafter, the vines’ leaves turn a kaleidoscope of burning yellows, oranges, and reds, before falling to the ground.

Question 3

Why do vines produce grapes?

Answer 3

To protect and disperse their seeds

Within every grape (or any fruit for that matter) lies a cluster of seeds. The sweet flesh surrounding the seeds not only serves to protect them—by keeping them moist and acting like a cushion—it also encourages animals and birds to eat and disperse them via their, uh, poop.

Question 4

During which season do vines lie dormant?

Answer 4

winter

In winter, grape vines look gnarled and skeletal. But, just like familiar neighborhood deciduous trees, they lie dormant; sleeping; awaiting the warmer weather to erupt into a thick canopy of leaves.

Question 5

What is the name of the vine species from which most of the world’s wines are made?

Answer 5

Vitis vinifera

Vitis vinifera is, in fact, a European vine species, and while there are also many North American vine species, most of the world’s wines are made from the former.

This is probably attributed to the fact that many colonizing nations from Europe brought their crops and wine-making traditions with them, implanting them in places as far flung as South America, South Africa, and Australia.

Question 6

What are some commonly grown Vitis vinifera varieties?

Answer 6

• Sauvignon Blanc
• Pinot Grigio
• Riesling
• Chardonnay
• Syrah
• Grenache
• Merlot
• Cabernet Sauvigon

That’s right! The different wines you have come to know and love are made from different cultivars or varietals of the Vitis vinifera plant.

Question 7

Name the 4 major parts of a grape.

Answer 7

1. Pulp
2. Skin
3. Seeds
4. Stems

Question 8

Which 3 parts of the grape produce tannins?

Answer 8

1. Skins
2. Seeds
3. Stems

Tannins create an astringent, drying sensation on your tongue. Their purpose in nature is to deter animals from eating a plant’s fruit or seeds before it’s ripe.

Question 9

What flavor do tannins produce?

Answer 9

bitterness

Question 10

What ingredient makes up most of the pulp of a grape?

the fleshy parts surrounding the seeds

Answer 10

water

Aside from water, the grape pulp also contains sugars, as well as organic acids, phenolic compounds, nitrogenous compounds, aroma compounds, and minerals and pectic substances.

In other words, the pulp is really the source of the sugar and wonderful fruit flavors and aromatic compounds that are so integral to wine-making and enjoyment!

Question 11

From which part of the grape do most red wines get their color?

Answer 11

The skins of grapes

Question 12

If red wines get their color from the grape skins, how is it possible to make a white wine from a black grape varietal?

Answer 12

The skins are removed first

The most famous example of this is Champagne, which is often made from Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier grapes, both of which are black varietals!

Question 13

How long can a grape vine live for?

Answer 13

If it’s in a healthy environment, a vine can live well over 60 years and oftentimes upwards of a century!

Question 14

At what age does a grape vine typically stop producing a large volume of fruit for wine-making?

Answer 14

Around 25 to 30 years

As grape vines age, their ability to produce large quantities of fruit declines. Most viticulturalists identify this age at 25-30 because, at that point, while the vine keeps producing grapes, its lesser output doesn’t necessarily justify its place in the vineyard. And so it’ll be replaced with younger vines.

Having said this, if a vine has produced exceptional fruit over the years, some estates will devote a portion of the vineyard to that vine and use it to produce limited vintages of “old vine” (Vieilles vignes) wines. Wine-making may be a business like any other, but it is one that is particularly susceptible to sentimentality.

Question 15

What are the 5 ingredients required by a vine to thrive?

Answer 15

1. Sunlight
2. Warmth
3. Carbon dioxide
4. Water
5. Nutrients

Question 16

What is the essential process by which a vine’s leaves absorb CO2 gas from the air, and water and nutrients from the ground to produce energy for growing and ripening grapes?

Answer 16

photosynthesis

If you remember your high school biology, photosynthesis, which cannot happen without sunlight, is the process by which plants make their own food!

Question 17

List the six steps of a vine’s annual growth cycle

hint: it starts with flowering in the spring

Answer 17

1. Flowering: spring
2. Fruit set: early summer
3. Véraison: summer
4. Ripening time: summer/late summer
5. Harvest: late summer/early autumn
6. Dormancy: winter

• Fruit set is the transition phase from flowers to fruit.
• Véraison is the onset of the ripening of the grapes and is marked by a changing of color.

Question 18

How do the flowers of grape vines get pollinated?

Answer 18

By the wind

Most people think “bees” and other insects when it comes to pollination. But, interestingly, grape vines possess both male and female reproductive parts, so they don’t rely on bees to pollinate for them. Rather they can self pollinate… but they need a little wind assistance to get them there.

Where bees do play an important role, however, is in pollinating the cover crops and flowers that are typically grown in the vineyard. For example, rose bushes are typically planted at the end of each vine row, where they act as a buffer from pests like aphids, which’ll attack the rose bushes before they get to the vines.

Question 19

What is fruit set exactly and what happens during this process?

Answer 19

Fruit set describes the transition from flower to fruit.

After pollination, a flower develops and seeds start to grow, forming what looks like a tiny green berry at the heart of each flower. The petals then fall away to reveal a teensy cluster of baby grapelets!

we made up the word “grapelets”

Question 20

What is véraison and when does it occur?

Answer 20

Véraison refers to the onset of ripening, which occurs mid-summer.

During this phase of the vine growth cycle, red varieties turn from green to purple or black; white wine varieties go from intense green to more yellow-green; sugars increase; and acidity levels decrease.

Question 21

True or false?

Before ripening, grapes are high in acid and low in sugar

Answer 21

TRUE

You’ll know this if you’ve ever popped an unripe grape in your mouth: they’re incredibly tart/sour (high acid) and completely lack sweetness (low sugar).

Question 22

True or false?

As grapes ripen, acidity levels rise and sugar levels drop.

Answer 22

FALSE

As grapes ripen, acidity levels decrease and sugar levels increase. It’s also during this ripening period that a grape’s aromatics develop!

Question 23

What chemical compound develops in black grapes during ripening?

Answer 23

tannins

Tannins are chemical compounds that come primarily from the skins of the grapes but also the seeds and stems. They augment the mouthfeel of a wine, adding texture and astringency.

Question 24

If grapes are left on the vine after the usual harvest time, what happens to them?

Answer 24

They develop concentrated aromatics and really high sugar levels

if the birds don’t get to ‘em

Question 25

What happens to grapes if they are left to raisinate on the vine?

Answer 25

All the water in the grape pulp evaporates, leaving behind a fruit that is shrivelled and concentrated in acids and sugars.

Because of their concentrated, almost syrupy sweetness, raisinated grapes are most often used to make sweet wines!

Question 26

What are 3 ways winemakers can concentrate grape sugars to make sweet wine?

Answer 26

1. Grapes are left on the vine longer (to achieve extra-ripeness)
2. Grapes are infected with Botrytis (a beneficial fungus)
3. Grapes are allowed to freeze (in cold climates)

I bet you have questions! Keep studying to find out what the heck Botrytis is and how on Earth a fungal infection could possibly be beneficial to grapes; and how grapes harvested below freezing yield a honeyed elixir befitting of the gods.

Question 27

What is Botrytis?

Answer 27

Botrytis is a fungus that grows on the outside of grapes, causing something called “noble rot”.

The word “noble” is probably intended to soften the concept of rotting, fungus-infected grapes but, yeah, I’m not sure it quite gets there.

Then again, if you’ve ever tried Botrytis wine, you’ll understand it to be one of life’s most exquisite contradictions. Delicious

Here’s a video on ‘How to tell if a sweet wine was made from Botrytis-infected grapes’

Question 28

What does Botrytis/noble rot do to the grapes after it punctures their skins?

Answer 28

Botrytis causes the water inside the grape to evaporate, thereby concentrating its sugars, flavors, and acids.

This is why the resultant grapes make such beautiful and aromatic sweet wines!

Question 29

What are the optimal conditions for Botrytis/noble rot to form?

Answer 29

Botrytis fungus requires misty mornings or humid conditions followed by warm, dry afternoons.

The dry afternoons slow the growth of Botrytis and prevent it from completely rotting the grapes.

Question 30

What style of wine is usually made with grapes affected by Botrytis?

Answer 30

Dessert wine

Botrytis-affected grapes are almost always used to make sweet wines.

Classic examples of this style of wine are (1) Sauternes from Bordeaux, France and (2) Aszú from Tokaj, Hungary.

Question 31

How are so-called ice wines or eisweine made?

Answer 31

1. Healthy grapes are left on the vine to freeze.
2. The water inside the grapes becomes locked up in ice, at which point the grapes are picked.
3. The concentrated sugary liquid that’s not frozen is then pressed from the grape, and…
4. Fermented to make the sweet wine ice wine/eiswein.

Question 32

In viticulture, what is meant by the term training?

Answer 32

Training refers to how the vine is supported and arranged (usually on a trellis) so as to optimize exposure to sunlight, encouraging productivity.

Question 33

In viticulture, what is meant by the term canopy management?

Answer 33

Canopy management refers to the removal of leaves and branches so as to control the size and form of the vine.

A messy canopy of leaves not only takes up much of the growth energy that would otherwise be channelled into growing fruit, it also shades the fruit from sunlight exposure, which is hugely important for the ripening process. So it’s really important the grape vines are kept well trimmed and managed!

Question 34

During which season are vines usually pruned?

Answer 34

Vines are usually pruned in the winter when they’re dormant.

Pruning is done so as to control the number of shoots, budburst, and how the vine grows/behaves during the present and ensuing growing season.

Question 35

What are the 2 dominant methods by which farmers irrigate their vines?

Answer 35

1. Drip irrigation
2. Flood irrigation

In flood irrigation, furrows are used to convey water flooded from one end of the vineyard to the other. Due to evaporation and runoff, it isn’t a very efficient irrigation method, although it is certainly the cheaper one.

In drip irrigation, water is fed slowly (dripped) to the vines through plastic pipes that are laid directly on, or buried beneath the soil next to the vines. This ensures a more continuous feed of water over time. It’s more expensive to lay but it’s also more efficient, resulting in less water loss.

Question 36

Name 5 naturally-occuring saboteurs that can totally destroy a healthy vineyard

Answer 36

• Insects
• Fungi
• Weeds
• Birds
• Animals (like deer)

Phylloxera, a microscopic louse that lives on and eats the roots of grape vines, is undoubtedly one of the industry’s historically greatest enemies.

In fact, In the late 1800s, Europe’s vineyards were decimated (and French wines almost lost entirely) in a phylloxera epidemic that was unwittingly introduced by Victorian-era botanists who brought samples of American native vines back to Europe to study.

Harbored within those samples was a nasty pest against which European vines were yet to develop a resistance.

Question 37

From which 2 damaging factors does netting help to protect vines against?

Answer 37

1. Birds and other pests that eat the berries
2. Hail that can damage the berries and vine

Every wine-making region has its large pests! In Germany, France and Italy, wild boars are a total nuisance; in Cape Town, South Africa, it’s baboons; and in North America, deer, raccoons, and bears!

Question 38

What’s the difference between pesticides, fungicides, and herbicides?

Answer 38

• Pesticides repel insects
• Fungicides repel fungi
• Herbicides repel weeds

And none of them are great for the health and wellness of our natural ecosystems.

Question 39

In viticulture (and agriculture in general), what is meant by the term yield?

Answer 39

Yield is the amount of grapes produced per acre (or hectare).

The average vineyard yields 16-24 hectoliters per acre. That’s between 2,105 and 3,158 bottles of wine per acre!

Question 40

What happens if a vineyard’s yields are too high?

Answer 40

The grapes could develop to have low sugar and/or a loss of flavor due to over-production.

This would result in a lot of wine being made, but not necessarily of a decent-enough quality to be considered viable (depending on the producer).

Question 41

What happens if a vineyard’s yields are too low?

Answer 41

Insufficient grapes to make enough wine for the market!

Question 42

What 2 ways can grapes be harvested?

Answer 42

1. By hand
2. Machine

Hand harvesting is, not surprisingly, a very labor intensive, expensive and slower method of harvesting grapes. Having said that, it is much gentler on the fruit, which is important when harvesting certain fragile grape varietals, like Pinot Noir. (It’s also great for hilly terroirs.)

Machine harvesting is by far the fastest, cheapest way to strip a vineyard of its fruit, although machines tends to bulldoze their way indiscriminately through the vines, oftentimes damaging the fruit and lopping off as many leaves and branches as they do fruit. (It’s also best for flat terroir.)

Machine harvesting is a viable option for more affordable, large-volume producers / wines. For those more expensive, smaller-batch producers / wines, hand harvesting is often the preferred method.

Question 43

What flavor/aroma attributes will grapes have if they’re harvested early in the season?

Answer 43

• Higher acidity
• Lower sugar
• Under-developed/under-ripe fruit flavors
• More grassy and herbaceous flavors

Question 44

What flavor/aroma attributes will grapes have if they’re harvested later in the season?

Answer 44

• Lower acidity
• Higher sugar
• Riper fruit flavors

Question 45

What is an “Old Vine” wine?

Also called ‘Vieilles Vignes’ in French

Answer 45

An “Old Vine” wine is one made from grape vines that are typically 35 years or older

Old vines can produce wine of an exceptional quality because they typically produce fewer grape bunches—and so flavor and sugars are concentrated—and have sparser canopies—increasing exposure to sunlight and optimizing nutrient delivery.

Question 46

If you have two bottles with the same vintage but they’re from different hemispheres, which wine will be older?

Answer 46

The one from the southern hemisphere

The southern hemisphere harvests their grapes about 6 months before the northern hemisphere does, so the wine will techincally be older than the one from the northern hemisphere.

Question 47

True or False:

Wines labeled Late Harvest are always sweet.

Answer 47

FALSE

Late Harvest wines can be dry, off-dry, medium-sweet, or sweet.

They are fuller in body and more concentrated in sugars and flavors than wines made from grapes harvested at the regular time.