The Vine Flashcards
What family is Vitis Vinifera from?
Vitaceae family - climbing plants
What are the structures of the Vitaceae family?
Roots Trunk and arms Shoots Nodes Buds Leaves Petioles (leaf stalks) Flowers Tendrils Berries
What is the function of roots?
Absorb water and nutrients from soil, anchor vine, store carbs for winter
What is the function of trunk and arms?
Enable vine to reach up to the sun and transport water and other things between roots leaves fruit. Can store carbs
What are shoots?
Structures that grow from buds and support leaves. When they go woody in the winter they become canes
What are nodes?
Bumps that segment the shoots. Leaves, flower bunches, and tendrils grow from nodes. Between the nodes are internodes
What are buds?
Form at the base of leaf stalks and allow shoot to grow. Prompt buds break in the year they are formed. Buds that break the following spring are latent.
What are petioles and what are they useful for
Leaf stalks. Analysis of these can determine vine nutrient requirements
What are flowers?
The hermaphroditic reproductive structures of the vine. Grouped in bunches called inflorescences.
How does a flower become a berry?
If a flower is successfully fertilized the flower ovary walls swell with water and sugar to form berry pulp.
What is the growth cycle of the vine?
Budburst: stimulated by warming temps (April/May or Sept/Oct)
Shoot growth: May-August or October-January
Flowering and fruit set: June/July or Nov/Dec. don’t want too much rain or wind.
Berry growth: July to Sept or dec to feb
Véraison: skins change color from green right before sugar accumulation
Wood ripening: Sep to Nov or Feb to April - carbs stored in canes trunk and roots for next year
Berry ripening and harvest: Sept to Nov or Feb to May (accumulate most sugar and ripen polyphenols)
Dormancy
What is floral initiation?
A process that occurs in dormant buds determining the max number of bunches per shoot for following year (June/July). Embryonuc flowers develop in dormant bud.must be sun temp and carbs
How does flowering work
Pollen germinates on stigma (female part) and grows in long tube to reach ovary
What is coulure?
Loose bunches with few berries. Caused by poor light
What is millerandage?
Mix of small and big berries in same bunch. Caused by low temps.
What is the life of a vine?
2-3yrs: trunk and permanent wood growing and starting training system. Remove berries to focus on vegetative growth
4 to 6 yrs: trunk and arms are thin so carb reserves are low which limits vigor. Good fruit to leaf balance
7-20: permanent wood thickens. Vine is most vigorous. Quality can drop
What happens to a vine over the years?
Winter pruning weakens it. Summer trimming can too. Vigor decreases, balance can be restored, but some rip out vines after 20 years.
What is the name of the original cultivated vines? Where were they from?
Vitis vinifera sativa. Transcaucasia.
Why and where did vine hybridization start?
In USA to combine the hardiness of American vines with the flavors of vinifera vines. It later occurred in Europe when trying to create rootstocks. Wanted to combine the resistance of some varieties with others for rootstock (v berlandieri with riparia and rupestris)
What did Europeans do to combat downy mildew in 1878?
Hybridized vinifera with American vines to resist mildew. Could be planted ungrafted. 30% of France hybrids by 1950s.
Crossing: petit bouschet
Aramon x Teinturier
Crossing: Alicante Bouschet
Petit Bouschet x Grenache
Crossing: Muller Thurgau
Madeleine Royale x Riesling Aka Rivaner Cool to moderate Easy and early ripening High yields Prone to rot and downy mildew, black rot, rotbrenner
What is selection massale?
Traditional method of selecting vines. Mark the best plants from a vineyard and take cuttings in the winter.
What is a clone?
Plants from a single parent propagated using cuttings and genetically identical.
When was clonal selection first carried out?
1876: Froelich, Silvaner
How does clonal selection work?
Cuttings are taken from just a few vines and monitored and propagated in controlled conditions. Less than 10 clones of a variety might be selected
What are the disadvantages of clonal selection?
Disease spread
Specialization
Less genetic diversity
Overproduction
What is genetic modification?
Transfer of genes from one organism to another. Not used for commercial wines
Why use cuttings?
Can be grafted and easier to predict characteristics of new plants (seeds aren’t identical)
4-5x price
What is layering?
A method of propagation (rare now bc phylloxera) where a cane is buried in the ground then separated from parent once roots take hold. Good for berlandieri and rotundifolia. Bolli VVF
What to remember when taking a cutting
Stem, root or leaves
Taken in early winter for commercial viticulture when carbs are highest
Should be well ripened and healthy with green sap filled inside
30-45cm, stored at 5C
Can be heat treated for pests
Can be planted into a nursery immediately or grafted
What conditions do cuttings need?
Lots of water
Warmth (15-25) from below
Loose well drained soil
What is bench grafting?
Happens indoors in late winter/early spring
Cuttings stored in damp sawdust then soaked
Done by machine
Scion dipped in paraffin wax - prevent graft Union from drying
Stored in high humidity crates with sand or sawdust
21-29degrees for 3-5wks to form callus
Trimmed, redipped in wax, cold stone, then planted in pots or nursery for 7-10days (18-21degrees)
What is top grafting?
Used to change varieties in the vineyard. Chip budding or T budding most common, using bud of new varietal on trunk of old one.
What is cleft grafting?
Less common to switch varieties
Saw trunk of vine vertically and insert canes of new variety. Works well in warm climates but tricky and requires a lot of care.
What is Vitis vinifera silvestris?
Wild European vines that are usually not hermaphroditic.
V labrusca
Wild in NE USA
Strong flavor, dark berries
Common parent in American hybrids(Concord)
NOT rootstock parent often
V riparia
Wild on river banks and alluvial soil in central eastern North America
Rootstock elements: low vigor, surface rooting, early ripening, resistant phylloxera, more tolerant of damp conditions
Disadvantages: iron deficiency in chalky lime soils
Used to control vigor on fertile soils
V rupestris
Wild in south central USA
Vigorous rootstock with deep roots, susceptible to chlorosis, drought resistant, high vigor
Good for poor soils with limited water
V berlandieri
Chalky soils in south USA and Mexico
Vigorous, deep roots, resistant to chlorosis
Hard to root cuttings
Often hybridized with rupestris and riparia to resist lime chlorosis
Chardonnay pros/cons
Quality potential Demand Recognition Ripens in wide range of climates Terroir Hardy High yields
Prone to grey rot
Pinot Gris pros/cons
Noble rot and drying on vine
Quality and demand
Can be uninteresting and dilute
Pinot Blanc pros/cons
Resistant to a lot
Quality at high yields
Recognition
Riesling pros/cons
Hardy
Wide range
Quality at high yields
Best at <50hl/ha
Gewurz pros/cons
Best at <40 hl/ha
Hard to achieve flavor ripeness at moderate alcohol
Low yields
Muscat pros/cons and clones
Muscat Blanc a Petits Grains is best (complex)
Muscat Ottonel is used for offdry wines in Alsace and Central Europe - less aromatic
Raisins well
Prone to fungal disease esp mildew
Attracts animals
Fade quickly
Chenin Blanc pros/cons
Retains acidity
Noble rot
Aging/quality
Ripens unevenly
Sauvignon Blanc pros/cons
High yielding
Black rot and powdery mildew
Semillon pros/cons
Lacks acidity
Vegetal in new world
Viognier pros/cons
Prone to leafroll and uneven ripening
Delicate flavors burnt off during ripening
Helps with color extraction and fixing in Rhône Syrah
Trebbiano/Ugni Blanc sub-varieties
Trebbiano Di Toscana - widely planted and bland
Trebbiano Di Soave - now shown to be Verdicchio
Trebbiano Romagnolo
Trebbiano dAbruzzo
Pinot Noir pros/cons
Low yields Prone to rot Hard to grow and vinify well Accumulates sugar quickly Prone to clonal variation
Cabernet Sauvignon pros/cons
Ripens late, difficult to fully ripen
Low yields despite high vigor
Merlot pros/cons
Easy to grow high yields Early budding (spring frost) Prone to coulure
Syrah
Develops mercaptan flavors
Disease resistant
What is Ruby Cabernet?
Carignan x Cab Sauv Used for big blends Hot climate Drought resistant Lacking in structure High yields Powdery mildew
Pinotage
Pinot Nor x Cinsault
Easy to cultivate, ripens, hardy
High yields
Seyval Blanc
Seibel 5656 x Seibel 4986
Hybrid
No go in EU
resistant to disease so could work for organic viticulture in cool areas
Rondo
Precoce de Malingre x Vitis amurensis x St Laurent Hybrid Deep color light body high acidity Classified in Germany as Vitis vinifera Resistance against frost and diseases Early ripening
Vidal
Ugni Blanc x Seibel 4986
Ice wine in Canada
Winter hardiness
Thick skin = late harvest
What is phylloxera?
Phylloxera vasatrix
First identified 1863
Insect
Causes vines to die of drought progressively since roots are covered in insects
Nodosites (white or yellow growths) near root tip and swellings on older roots
Pale green leaf galls on under surface of leaves
Who discovered the solution for phylloxera?
Laliman in 1872
American vines form hard corky layers in roots so phylloxera can’t feed
Only other remedy: sandy soil or flooding vineyard for 40 days
What are nematodes?
Tiny roundworms that are too small to be seen by the naked eye
Some feed off roots while others transmit viral diseases
What do high soil salinity levels do?
Disrupt water uptake and vine nutrition
Salt Creek rootstock
What is a scion
The vine grafted onto the rootstock
Is it better to use a low or high vigor rootstock in cooler conditions?
Low because it encourages earlier ripening
What are the two principle rootstocks?
Riparia Gloire de Montpelier and Ripestris du Lot
Riparia Gloire de Montpelier - parent and characteristics
Vitis riparia Low vigor Low lime tolerance Low drought resistance High phylloxera tolerance Moderate plus nematode resistance Likes humid cool fertile soils with moisture. Good for quality wine production
Rupestris du Lot
Vitis rupestris High vigor Low lime tolerance Moderate plus drought resistance High phyll Moderate plus nematode Likes deep, poor, healthy soils in the Mediterranean. Sensitive to coulure
AXR1
Vinifera x rupestris
Offers some lime tolerance but is not tolerant enough to phylloxera. Planted in California in the 70s/80s
High vigor
Moderate plus drought
3309 C (couderc)
Riparia x rupestris
Halfway between surface and deep rooting. Average vigor, good resistance to phylloxera and nematodes, poor tolerance to lime. Good drought resistance.
Related: 101-14 and schwarzman* really good for nematodes
Riparia x berlandieri
Surface or semi surface, good rooting, good lime tolerance. Phylloxera resistance.
Examples: 161-49C, 420A, 5C, 5BB, SO4, 125AA
Berlandieri x rupestris
Good in dry and stony conditions, deep rooting systems, high vigor
99R, 110R, 140 RU, 1103 P
What is vitis Champini good for?
Areas with serious nematode problems. Dog Ridge
