Continuing to show you the Vineyard walk at Denner with Winemaker Anthony, Vineyard Manager Aaron, and Assistant Winemaker Mike, we’ve got a lot more information for you!
Turns out, many of the vines we see out there have been grafted. They take newer growth and literally “tape” it onto established root stock. It’s pretty amazing, actually! It keeps them from having to tear up vineyards in some instances, or provides a stronger and more established root stock for some varietals.
The first of the 2 videos speaks to grafting, as Aaron and Anthony explain how they’ve grafted a block of Grenache growth to established Syrah root stock:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lq6oZYQyX1Q[/youtube]
The second video is Aaron describing to us what happens when the vines are planted in limestone; they don’t really like the limestone, so they adapt and grow along and around it. This particular vineyard is at the lowest point on the Denner property and holds a lot of water…resulting in a wine with…well, we’ll let Anthony tell you all about the Frog Pond:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ka5tQL2X-oo[/youtube]
I wondered how they draft a vine, so my understanding is they put a stick/block of Grenache growth to an existing vine to established Syrah root stock, right? I would love to see them do that, it’s so intriguing. Thanks for sharing, learning something new every day, love it. Cheers!
Hi Bev, yes, they put a growth onto an established root stock. It’s pretty impressive! We’ll try to find somebody’s who’s grafting and invite ourselves to come watch, learn and blog because we’d love to see them do that too!