Grape Growing - History and Techniques – (Part One)
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| Hilly vineyards at different times of year | |
Currently grapes are grown in about 50 countries worldwide, but the vast majority of vineyards are located in Europe. In fact, the "old" continent is way up at the top accounting for 80% of global production. On the other end, the whole American continent produces the 14%, Africa the 4%, while Asia and Australia together account for 1% of total production.
Italy in particular, is the country that grows the gratest number of grapes on the planet. The most important production regions are Veneto, Piedmont, Emila-Romagna, Tuscany, Apulia and Sicily, but vineyards are cultivated throughout all the Italian regions with excellent results and good quality level.
Italy has a great nursery tradition, providing grafting materials to several foreign countries all over the world.
In addition, long centuries of grape growing left Italy with many varieties of vitis vinifera that represent a precious treasure for the Italian wine regions. In fact, as opposed to vines originating in other countries, which are known as 'international vines' because of their adaptability to different ecosystems, many Italian varieties do not fare well outside their native region. This ensures that the production of great Italian wines can not be reproduced elsewhere in the world.
The plants in a vineyard last about 40-50 years. The first 7-8 years the young vine starts out being totally unproductive, then begins a growing production until it stabilizes for the next 20-25 years. Production then diminish gradually for the last 10 years until, finally, the vine dies.
In reality, vines could live up to 100 years. The need for hybrids made with roots from the American vines, created vineyards that are much more resistant to the fillossera, but at the same time have a definitely shorter life span.
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| Glorious Tuscan Vineyards in Fall |
Methodologies for Starting a Vineyard
There are various methods of growing grapes, some of which are rooted in ancient times. Today however, there are two systems that are used mostly, the graft called doppio spacco inglese, or "English double-split" and the "bud" (a gemma) graft.
The first method consists of preparing the new plant using two elements, the root base and the grape variety. With the second system instead, the bud is grafted to a root system already planted in its final destination.
By starting a vineyard, one creates a mini-ecosystem which consists of one or more grape varieties grafted on to American roots, the area weather, the composition of the soil and a series of growing techniques.
All and any of these elements contribute to the characteristics of wine produced.
We close here with the first part of our brief history of the vine. In the next article we will be looking more deeply into the different varieties of grapes as well as the various growing techniques.
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