An Ode to Grapevines Part One
Most people have seen grapevines, on trellises, woven into trees, by the side of the road or carpeting hillsides in wine country. But they don’t realize the nature of the particular plants that growers choose for their fields. The first part of this is that people like wine, and they have liked wine for a very long time, 1000’s of years. And since people like better wine they have spent a great deal of time improving their vines and vineyards. The result is a remarkable agricultural adaption.
You may know all about the birds and the bees but in the vineyards you see there are no boys and girls. While male and female grape vines exist in nature, there are also hermaphrodites. These plants have both sex glands and are self pollinating. Girl grape plants produce lots of grapes, and boy plants none, but hermaphrodites produce less than the girls, but more than the boys, and they don’t require bees to spread the pollen around. Over time growers selected the hermaphrodites as their main plant stock because it makes a more productive vineyard.
Second part, grapes are not grown from seed. But all plants are grown from seeds and there’s seed in some grapes, right? Yes, fine wine grapes have seeds and they are an important part of the chemical composition that makes wine. But wine grapes are grown from cuttings, and because they never go through the seed to maturity process they lack some of the environmental diversity that provides greater resistance as adults. Previous to the nursery method used today vines were grown like bushes and new vines were propagated by digging one of the longer canes into the ground. A new vine would sprout from there.
Third part, in most places around the world, grape vines are grafted onto root stocks that have greater resistance to a root louse, native to the USA, that has caused havoc in the wine industry numerous times. While indigenous USA vines like the Concord are resistant to it, the European varietals that are the mainstay of the industry are not. Either in the nursery or the field the top part of the plant is grafted onto a rootstock from the American south where this little louse is rampant. There are places around the world where this is not done, but chances are that the wines that you are drinking are from grafted vines. Truthfully, grafting is a common technique with many fruits, often to produce a smaller tree that is easier to prune and harvest.
Fourth Part, grapevines are very complex creatures, with one of the longest genetic codes in the plant kingdom, rather like humans in the animal kingdom. They are tremendously adaptable, so that taking a cutting from one plant, and relocating it to different conditions can produce dramatically different flavors. These variations are called the clones, and they represent the vines becoming in sync with their Terroir. This is a French word meant to embody all of the contributing environmental elements that influence a vine. I like the Italian word Territorio, which with that wonderful Latin ability to simmer a concept down until you can hold it between your fingers has come to mean ‘the flavor of the land’. That works for me.
Ralph & Lahni de Amicis are authors of the Amicis Winery Guides, and owners of Amicis Tours. They are authors of over twenty books on health, design, business and travel. Their iPhone Apps, The Napa Valley Wine Tour, and The Sonoma Winery Tour are a tour guides approach to these beautiful area, complete with 1000’s of photos and insights. Their articles and products can be found on the sites http://www.amicistours.com and http://www.spaceandtime.com
Wine,Tours,Sonoma, Grapes,Vines
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