The Vine

Question 1

What is the main Eurasian species of vine?

Answer 1

Vitis vinifera

Question 2

For roughly how long has vitis vinifera been used to grow grapes for winemaking?

Answer 2

Several thousand years

Question 3

How many important species of vine are native to North America?

Answer 3

3

Question 4

Why are American species of vine rarely used to produce grapes for winemaking?

Answer 4

The wines they produce are widely considered to have unattractive flavours

Question 5

Why are American vine species widely used to produce rootstocks onto which vitis vinifera vines are grafted?

Answer 5

Unlike vitis vinifera rootstocks, they are resistant to Phylloxera

Question 6

What is Phylloxera?

Answer 6

A vine pest that attacks the vine’s roots

Question 7

How many grape varieties belong to the vitis vinifera species?

A) 100s
B) 1000s
C) 10,000s

Answer 7

B) 1000s

Question 8

When selecting a grape variety to grow, what other considerations than differences in taste and quality of the fruit might a grower take into account?

(2 examples)

Answer 8

1) Budding and ripening times

2) Resistance to certain diseases

Question 9

True or false: a particular grape variety cannot be grown or propagated using seeds.

Answer 9

True