Viticultural/Vinification Flashcards
What is viticulture?
Viticulture is the art and science of vine growing.
Its farming
What are the factors of production that go into viticulture?
location/geography climate topography/aspect soil grape varieties viticultural practices vinification practices harvest yearly weather/vintage variation terroir regional wine laws historical background
Most vine growing occurs between what latitudes?
30 degress - 50 degress latitudes in the northern and southern hemispheres
When did man first domesticate vitis vinifera?
nearly 5,000 years before the common area
What is vitis vinfera?
a species native to the Mediterranean, Europe, and southwester Asia
Life cycle of the vines begin in what season with bud break?
Spring
What is the first step in bud break?
“weeping or bleeding”
watery sap from pruned canes sometime in February (northern hemisphere)
average air temp surpasses 50 degrees
What is the second step in bud break?
occurs in march or april
first small shoots and leaves will break through buds left in tact by winter pruning
- at this stage the vine is vulnerable to frost
What is the 3rd step in bud break?
- vines foilage continues to develop through early spring
- small green clusters called embryo bunches form on the shoots by mid april
What is the 4th step in bud break?
- flowerin occurs 6-13 weeks after the initial bud break depending on climate
- during this period the embryo bunches bloom into small flowers for about 10 days
- the self-pollinating grapevine begins the process of fertilization
What happens after the vine starts to fertilize?
- fruit set usually hovers around 30% - the remaining embryo berries “shatter” falling from the cluster
- as berries enlarge through July, they remain hard, high in acid, and low in sugar
What happens to the vines typically in August?
Veraison begins and the grapes begin to truly ripen, as sugars are moved from the leaf system to the fruit
What is veraison mean?
grapes begin to ripen
What happens during veraison?
- grapes soften and change color
- turning from green to red - black, yellow - green and acidity decreases
- version affects an individual grape so it may unevenly affect a whole bunch
What is Cane Ripening?
- occurs in tandem with veraison, as the shoots begin to lignify (convert into wood)
- accumulating carbohydrates to sustain the plant through the winter
What does Vendange mean?
to harvest
When is harvest typically in the Northern Hemisphere?
August - November
What happens to the vines after harvest?
vines lose their leaves in autumn and enter a period of winter dormancy
- fertilization may be applied in the fall after harvest and vines will be pruned over the winter
What is Physiological ripeness mean?
- a concept of ripeness comprising not only must and weight and Ph, but also ripening of tanning and other phenolics
- the condition of the berry and its pulp and seed
- lignification - which often requires longer “hang time” for the grapes on the vine
What temperatures do vines prefer?
- an average annual level between 58 and the 68 degrees with an ideal 57 degrees
to successfully ripen:
red grapes - average summer temp of 70 degrees
whites grapes - average summer temp of 66 degrees
What is the California Heat Summer Index?
- classifying the climate solely by temperature and therefore recommending grape varieties based on temperature
Please talk about the chart of the California Heat Summer Index.
- 5 regions based on number of degree days
- degree days are calculated by multiplying the days in each month of the growing season (April 1 - Oct 31) by the mean number of degrees over 50 degrees for that month.
- The months totals are then added together to arrive at the heat sum.
Attached is the image of the heat index.
What is the minimum amount of sunshine required to support viticulture?
1,300 hours
Who is the father of biodynamics?
Rudolf Steiner
How much rain does viticultural require?
Approximately 20 - 30 inches annually
What is water stress?
- receives too little water, water stress will occur
- a condition that promotes smaller berries and yields
- will lead to interrupted ripening and complete shutdown of the vine if the stress is to severe
What happens when there is too much rain?
- Will not adversely affect the vine itself, but will dilute fruit quality and create a friendly environment for fungal diseases
What are the pros of wind?
- wind can be detriment to mold and mildew and wind machines are often employed in the battle aginst frost to mix colder and settled air near the ground to warmer upper air
- can cool an environment
- can warm an environment
What are the cons of wind?
- could harm vine if blowing persistently hard
- can undermine flowering and denude vines
- in colder climates wind chill can be devastating
What is a macroclimate?
the regional climate
What is a mesoclimate?
the climate of a particular vineyard
What is a microclimate?
looking at climate for a single row of vines or even for a specific vine
What does continental climate mean?
- characterized by strong annual variation in temperature due to the lack of proximity to significant bodies of water with moderating influence.
Hotter summers than in maritime climates, often with cold winters that can be extreme
What is a maritime climate?
- a climate influenced by a large body of water such as a sea or ocean.
- marked by mild temperature but also involving fluctuations from year to year causing vintage variation
What is a Mediterranean climate?
- Summers are hot and dry, aside from the immediate coastal areas.
- Along the coasts, summers are mild due to proximity to cold water currents, but storms can also result as a consequence
What is the climate of high desert?
- summers are generally hot and dry.
- day time temperatures are high, but dramatic diurnal shifts at night
What is canopy management?
to adjust the microclimate of a vine particularly in its exposure to sunshine and its eventually yield
- these include winter pruning, leaf removal, shoot positioning, and the use of sophisticated trellising systems
What do the differences mean in high and low pH in soils?
High soil pH - (common in limestone rich soils) - contributes to higher acidity in grapes
Low soil pH - can be deterrent to viticulture, this can be countered by the application of lime
Name 3 different types of wine vine plants?
- vitis labrusca
- vitis riparia
- vitis vinifera
What are 3 things farmers look at for compatibility to grow the grapes?
- soil
- climate
- wine law
What are hybrids?
- are vines of two or more different species combined to produce a new variety
- example: vitis vinifera x vitis labrusca
- Baconoir
What are crosses?
- are vines of the same species combined to create a new variety.
example: vitis vinfera x vitis vinfera
What are clones?
- are identical genetic reproductions of a single vine
- chosen for disease resistance, hardiness, yield, aromatics, structure, color, etc
What is selection massale?
- mass selection
- a grower will attempt to reinforce positive traits and eliminate negative traits through appropriate selection
- while the result may be less precise than those gained with colonial selection, a broader genetics diversity is maintained
What is the Latter Method?
- popular in Burgundy
- enables the grower to select budwood for replanting from a number of vines throughout the vineyard, rather than single clones
What is another word for budwood selection?
scion
What are the other reasons besides phylloxera a specific rootstock gets chosen?
- diseases
- drought
- tolerances to salt or lime
How long does it take for new vines to produce suitable grapes?
3 years
When does grape vine mature?
6th year
When does root system mature?
10th year
What is Cordon training?
- the vine has at least one permanent cane that extends from the trunk, called an arm or cordon
- grows thick and gnarled over time and fruit bearing shoots will emerge from each season
What are head-trained vines?
- vines have no permanent cordon, and the trunk ends in a knob or head
Which requires a tressiling system? Cordon or Head?
Cordon
How are head and cordon vines pruned?
Head trained vines - spur pruned or cane pruned
cordon - spur pruned
Who developed the Guyot system and when?
Jules Guyot
1860
What does the Guyot system look like?
- requires a vertical trellis on which the canes can be suspended and has one spur and one main two year old cane
- the double guyot variant supports two main canes, extending outward from the trunk on opposite sides
What is the Gobelet system also known as?
albarello
and
envaso
What is the Gobelet system look like?
- an ancient technique common in the Southern Rhone and Southern Italy, where the vine often unsupported, resembles a goblet.
- each years fruiting canes extending from the spur prune, shortened arms a top the trunk
What do the Geneva System and Lyre System look like?
spur pruned/cordon trained
- more complicated
- cordons extend outward from the trunk in a flat “U” shape, creating a divided canopy
What does Vertical Shoot Positioning (VSP) look like?
- a trellising system, may be used for either cane - pruned or spur pruned vines
What is the Tendone system also known as?
pergola
enforcado
What does the Tendone system look like?
- alternative training system in which the vines are trained upward and overhead along wooden frames or trees, enabling workers to pass underneath
- either be spur - or cane pruned
What does Cordon de Royat look like?
- the preferred training style for pinot noir in Champagne
- similar to the Guyot system
- with a single spur pruned permanent cordon extending horizontally from the trunk, rather than a 2 year old cane
What are the 4 main group of diseases?
- fungal
- viral
- bacterial
- phytoplasma
What is grapevine yellows?
another name for phytoplasma diseases
GMOs have been banned by the EU since?
1998
What is powdery mildew?
- it is a fungal disease
- thrives in dry and humid conditions
- rainfall is a detriment to it
- creates off flavors in the wine, reduces yields, and infects flowering
What is Downy Mildew?
- its a fungal disease
- infection first visible as an oil spot on leaves
- cottony growth develops on the underside of the leaves
- causes leaves to drop which effects photosynthesis
What is the Bordeaux mixture?
- a spray of copper sulfate, water, and lime
- developed in 1885 to prevent outbreaks
- blue staining
What is Eutypa Dieback?
- a fungal disease
- also called dead arm
- drastic effect on yields
- enteres the vine through pruning wounds
- could infect a cane and could die
What is esca (black measles)?
- it is a fungal disease
- thrives in warm climates
- will effect yields
- and can kill vines
What is black rot?
- it is a fungal disease
- black spots on the vine shoots, leaves, and berries
- yield reductions can be disastrous
- can be controlled through fungicide sprays
What is bunch rot?
- it is a fungal disease
- botrytis is the most common bunch rot
- reduce crop yield and can add moldy off flavors to the wine
What is Pierce’s disease?
- it is a bacterial disease
- commonly transmitted by the glassy wing sharp shooter - leaf hopping insect found citrus orchards and oleander plants
- the vines wont be able to produce chlorophyll killing it within 1 - 5years
- no cure
What is Crown Gall (black knot)?
It is a bacterial disease
- vine develops tumors at its trunk which strangle the vine and kill it
- thrive in colder climates
What is blight?
its a bacterial disease
- often kills young grapevine shoots
- develop dark brown streaks in early spring and will eventually die
- spread by rain and compromised pruning tools
- can be controlled by hot water treatments and the bordeaux mixture
What is the Leafroll virus?
it is a virus
- may be responsible for as much as 60% of the worlds grape production loss
- effected vines display radiant shades of red and gold, downward curling of the leaves
- reduced yields and delayed ripening
- no cure
- wont kill plant
What is fanleaf degeneration?
it is a viral disease
- spread by soil and nematodes feeding on infected roots
- severely curtails yeilds and effected vineyeards must be removed
- deformed shoot growth
- may form yellow bands around the veins
What is Flavescence Doree?
it is a phytoplasma disease
- leafhopper insects and propagation of infected vines spread the disease
- discolor leaves, cause pustules, and cracks to form
- may kill young vines
- no cure
What is the fermentation equation?
sugar from ripe grape juice + yeast ambient or inoculated = alcohol, CO2, flavors, aromas, and heat
What are temps that stop or kill yeasts?
below 50 degrees yeasts will not act
above 113 degrees yeast will die
What does MOG mean?
material other than grape
What is vin de goutte?
free-run wine
What does maturation?
elevage
aging
What is racking?
- soutirage
- movement from one vessel to another, providing aeration and clarification as the wine is removed from its lees or sediment
What does Sans Soufre?
without sulfur
What is the purpose of fining?
- fining is done to clarify the wine for attractiveness, this can be done with cold stabilization
What is the purpose of filtration?
- the wine is passed through a series of filters to extract yeasts and other microbes, providing stability and assuring that the wine does not re-ferment
What is saignee?
“bleeding” method
- pink juice is drawn from the vessel to concentrate the remaining must for red wine production improving its color and structure
What is the process of making a barrel?
Warming (chauffage)
Shaping (cintrage)
Toasting (bousinage) - light, medium, or heavy toasting
What is the french term for pumping over the cap?
Remontage
Which method is used to adjust alcohol after fermentation?
Reverse Osmosis
Which substance is responsible for volatile acidity in wines?
acetic acid bacteria
Water is considered neutral and has a pH of?
7
Wine will generally have a pH of?
3 or 4
After verasion what is the estimated rate of sugar accumulation?
Roughly .5 - 1.0 degrees Brix per week after verasion
True or False: Extraction occurs more quickly at a high temperature.
True
Some winemakers believe a cold soak increases (blank).
color extraction
What is the storage conditions for wine?
45- 65 degrees
Oxygen is consumed more quickly in white or red wine?
Red wine
What is isinglass?
a kind of gelatin thats used to clarify some beer and wine
What are the tools to measure sugar?
refractometer - in the field
hydrometer or desiometer in the winery
What are the measurement used to measure sugar and where?
Brix - US and New world
Baume - France, Spain, Australia
Oechsle Scale - Germany and Switzerland
Which wines require less SO2 for microbial stability?
Lower pH wines
What is debourbage?
- for clairfication
Why are Saccharomyces Cerevisiae and Oenococcus oeni are important?
- Saccharomyces cerevisiae is an alcohol tolerant yeast that dominates most alcoholic fermentations
- Oenococcus oeni is a lactic acid bacteria frequently responsible for malolactic fermentation
What is Brettanomyces?
- is responsible for a number of off aromas and flavors in wine as well as pleasant ones
- it can metabolize sugars that Saccharomyces is not able to, and for this reason, even finished wine is vulnerable to colonization
- medicinal, barnyard, smoky aromas
Fermentation is comprised of 3 distinct stages. What are they?
- lag phase
- exponential phase
- stationary phase
What is reduction?
- describe wine aromas that arise from volatile sulfur compounds produced by yeast during fermentation and lees aging
- positive reduction - matchstick, flint
- unpleasant - eggs, skunk, rubber, cabbage, garlic, sewage
- minimize wines exposure to oxygen
What is micro-oxygenation?
- is a red winemaking technique that introduces a slow dose of oxygen, to wine over time
What is cliquage?
- is a similar technique to micro-oxygenation in which a large dose of oxygen is added to the wine to mimic the oxygen pick up that would be expected during racking
What is the legal limit of total SO2?
150 to 350 parts per million
- most dry wine is less than 100 (typically 80)
- sweet wines require higher levels of SO2
What is rotary fermentation?
Rotary Drum - similar to plate and frame, but the support screen is cylindrical
- the process can be very oxidative
- it is typically used on heavy press wine or lees
What are Anthocyanins?
- refers to a family of pigmented compounds responsible for the vibrant color of young red wine
What are thermovinification and detente?
niche techniques that accelerate the extraction of red grapes by exposing them to very high heat for a very short period of time
140+ degrees
- generally not accepted for quality winemaking
Which winemaking technique involves holding the grape must at low temperature for several days prior to fermentation?
Cold soak
Blank is the father of biodynamics.
Rudolf Steiner
Which of the following compounds is produced by Brettanomyces and contributes medicinal and barnyard aromas to wine?
Ethylphenol
Which of the following compounds is a byproduct of malolactic fermentation and lends a buttery aroma to wines?
diacetyl
Which grapevine species is NOT resistant to phylloxera?
Vitis vinifera
Which of the following vine diseases is spread by soil nematodes?
Fanleaf Degeneration
True or False: Rosé wine made by the saignée method are drained off the skins after a short maceration.
True
Which winemaking technique is used to prevent re-fermentation in bottle?
Sterile filtration
(blank) replaces the wine lost from barrel due to evaporation during aging.
Topping
True or False: Reverse osmosis is banned in EU countries.
False
Which winemaking technique is typically used for the production of nouveau style wines?
Carbonic maceration
Which acid is most abundant in Vitis vinifera grapes?
Tartaric
Which microorganism is typically responsible for alcoholic fermentation?
Saccharomyces
What is the French term for the cap management technique of pumping over the cap?
Remontage
True or False: Region V is the coolest region according to the California Heat Summation Index.
False
What is the French term for racking?
Soutirage
Which vineyard event does NOT impact yields?
Veraison
