"OWN ROOTS"

by J. Douglas Meador

Author of The New Viticulture

Prior to about 1867 all European grapevines were grown on their "own roots" - i.e., there was no grafting of varietals to "rootstocks". In that time frame both amateurs and professionals imported "American" grapevines - wine varieties native to North America - for study. Unknown to them, they also brought along in the root mass a little bug native to North America - the Phylloxera. North American vines had evolved in the presence of this rascal and had developed resistance to it. Vinifera - the European vine had no such resistance! The bug loved the environment, loved the buffet lunch of vinifera and spread like wildfire - most likely from the area of Marseilles in the South. It was devastating.

The French tried everything to save their precious vineyards. Hybridizing - crossing vinifera with American - was tried diligently to no avail. However, some of these "French Hybrids" became of use in the Northeast of the U.S. The French soon discovered that using American roots and grafting vinifera on top provided the only resistance to the bug. Subsequently, hybridizing "rootstocks" was found useful for various purposes and soil types. It was also found that any vinifera in parentage reduced resistance to phylloxera. Most - not all - but most European vineyards were replanted to vines on American rootstocks.

The resulting vines (and wines) were nearly true to the original - not completely but "nearly". This "nearly" business is because the rootstocks interact with their soils differently than pure vinifera varieties on their own roots in a given soil. This is a mechanical thing and affects the associated results. The rootstocks do not cause genetic changes in the top - or "scion" as it's called. The resulting wines are Chardonnay or Cabernet or Pinot or whatever has been grafted on the root.

Many European writers of times past who have tasted current wines of before and after grafting have asserted differences. Many have bemoaned the necessary transition, asserting loss of certain subtleties and complexities associated with a given terroir - in essence, a loss to some degree (apparent to them) of distinctiveness of terroir.

Let me give an example on the technical side how this will occur. A wine is the integrated result of a 'grape" and the winemaking techniques. Lets hold the winemaking procedures constant (historically normal) and discuss the "grape". In a given terroir (which is everything about location - not just the "soil") a self-rooted vine will interact in a fashion unique to itself. The associated grape will reflect its foliage-to-fruit ratio, vine vigor, its ability to extract (or not) micro nutrients (if present), minerals (if present), moisture, etc., etc., etc.

If we now insert into the equation a rootstock under the vines we have changed the vine/fruit relationship. By definition - a rootstock is different than the variety on top. Thus, the entire relationship of the plant to the soil is different than if the plant were on its own roots. Notice that there is no assertion of necessarily "better" or "worse" - just different. It very well may be that in a very weak dry area a moisture scrounging rootstock could improve a grape in a dry year with no irrigation!

Another example would be the utilization of a rootstock that has a definite difficulty in gathering zinc leading to small leaves and set problems on the top. One major rootstock has - we now know - exactly such a problem. Absent corrective additions of zinc this rootstock would create substantially different fruit.

Most rootstocks are of native American varieties (or hybrids thereof). However, even with vinifera roots - but different variety - I have seen differences in the appearance of the top. One example is Chardonnay grafted onto Zinfandel roots. The Chardonnay clusters appear bigger and longer - more in the shape nature of zin! Yet - they are definitely Chardonnay in every other way - apparently.

At Ventana, for a variety of technical reasons with which I will not bore you, most of our vines are in the ancient way - on their own roots! We have been conducting rootstock exploratory trials since 1974 and do not yet have definitive answers. So far, our observations are that by far the best and most unique quality comes from vines on their own roots. We have also learned that we must match certain varieties to certain soil characteristics - a process that we have persued for a very long time. For example, some varieties have very high natural vigor and these we plant on soil with the most rock and least nutritional aspects. Thus, the vigor is restrained, the berries are smaller and, therefore the skin-to-juice- ratio is higher. As red wines acquire their "essence" and "extracts" from the skins, smaller berries yield wines of more depth.

Conversely, we like to grow varieties of less natural plant vigor on soils of more nutritional character - or feed them more. This works toward balancing the foliage and fruit. We also plant these types closer together thus asking less of each individual plant.

All of these viticultural procedural differences allow us to maximize and express the full range of characteristics unique to a given variety - from its roots through its fruit. The resulting wine is a full expression of the given variety within the Ventana terroir.

This pure expression of the varietal is not widely sustainable in the United States or Western Europe today. The phylloxera bug has changed all that. The Ventana Vineyard is one of the very few locations where the old-world pre-phylloxera vinifera grapevine thrives. In some support of the "own rooted" merits, might be the observation that Ventana Vineyards is now more than twenty consecutive years of gold and silver medals on its Chardonnay and Riesling grapes. Other varieties also have long strings of awards.

This would tend to indicate merit in the views of those observers of long ago something was lost with grafting.

It is the "location" - or terroir - of the Ventana that allows us to bring to you the pure experience of each of our varietals. Enjoy!

Doug Meador, Author of

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