Viticultural Practices

Question 1

What are important factors in vineyard architecture?

Answer 1

• *Vine spacing:** how the vines are spaced out in rows and how far apart vines are planted
• *Vine training:** Vines must be trained and controlled. Vines are trained in certain ways to control the vine’s production of leaves, branches, and fruit.

Question 2

What is yield and why does it matter?

Answer 2

Yield is how much fruit a vine produces. Measured in tons of grapes per acre, hectoliters per hectare, or pounds/kg per vine

Controlling the yield prevents too many watery grapes and forces the plant to ripen fewer grapes with high quality

Yield typically drops as the vine ages.

Question 3

What is green harvest?

Answer 3

A method of crop thinning by cutting unripe grape bunches off the vine before harvets to decrease yields and force the vine to focus its energy and nutrients on fewer bunches, creating high quality final grapes

Question 4

What are some methods of vineyard management?

Answer 4

Canopy Management
Irrigation
Pests and Vine Diseases
Fertilizers
Anti-Fungal treatments

Question 5

What is canopy management?

Answer 5

Managing the growth of the vine’s leaves, to shade or expose grapes or to allow airflow through vine rows

Question 6

What is irrigation?

Answer 6

Providing the vine with water through a variety of methods.
This practice may not be allowed in some European wine regions.

Question 7

Which wine regions don’t allow irrigation?

Question 8

What do fertilizers do?

Answer 8

It’s the use of chemicals or organic material to enhance the fertility of the soil and provide nutrients to the vines

Question 9

What do anti-fungal treatments do?

Answer 9

Ward off mildew and rot that can compromise fruit quality.

Question 10

What is phylloxera?

Answer 10

A vine louse that destroyed 1/3rd of global vines in late 1800s. It was fixed by grafting vines to American rootstock.

Question 11

How does phylloxera attack a vine?

Answer 11

By eating leaves until the plant dies

Question 12

What was the solution to phylloxera?

Answer 12

Grafting vines onto American rootstock (vitis labrusca or riparia)

Question 13

What regions have not been affected by phylloxera?

Answer 13

Argentina, Chile, Western & South Australia,

Question 14

What does vineyard orientation do for vine planting?

Answer 14

Vines may be planted in rows that go down the hill and get lots of sunlight or across a hill to retain soil on each tier.
Proper sunlight exposure and air flow to decrease humidity are important

Question 15

How does frost affect grape growing?

How is it mitigated?

Answer 15

Reduces the Yield

Wind machines

Sprinkler systems

Flaming heaters

Question 16

How does not enough sun affect the crop?

What is a way to mitigate not getting enough sun?

Answer 16

Produces underripe, green herbal, vegetal, high acid, low sugar grapes

Chaptalization can mitigate it

Question 17

How does too much sun affect the crop?

What is a way to mitigate getting too much sun?

Answer 17

Produces overripe, high-alcohol wines, prune/cooked characteristics

Amelioration (the addition of water) mitigates too much sun

Question 18

What does too much rain do to the crop?

How is too much rain mitigated?

Answer 18

Produces thin, watery wines

Pray for drier weather before harvest! (i.e. not much you can do except pick or wait)

Question 19

What does mildew do to the crop?

How is mildew mitigated?

Answer 19

Causes rot on the grapes

Mitigation by spraying with copper sulfate

Question 20

What does drought do to the crop?

How is drought mitigated?

Answer 20

Scorched grapes, raisined grapes

Mitigated via irrigation (if allowed), otherwise just rain

Question 21

How are grapevines reproduced?

Answer 21

With cuttings. They are not reproduced via seeds.

Question 22

What is the variety grafted onto the rootstock called?

Answer 22

The scion

Question 23

What is the purpose of pruning?

Answer 23

Cutting back last year’s vines to make way for next year’s crop.

Pruning the right amount will allow the appropriate amount of fruit to grow and ripen year over year

Question 24

What is vine spacing dictated by?

Answer 24

Historical tradition in a region

Drainage and nutrient capabilities in the soil

Trellising techniques

Spacing for farm equipment

Adequate airflow

Question 25

What is biodynamic viticulture?

Answer 25

Based on the teachings of Rudolf Steiner

Managing farm holistically

Using organic compost

Use of beneficial animals to control pests

Pruning done according to movement of the moon

Question 26

What can reducing vine spacing do for quality?

Answer 26

It can actually increase quality because now vines are fighting and struggling for a smaller area of nutrients

Question 27

Are larger or smaller berries preferred for high quality wine?

Answer 27

Generally, smaller berries are preferred due to higher skin to juice ratio