About Grafting Vines

Ever since the great plague of the phylloxera in the 19th century, the ground was permeated by those destructive aphids and it remained quite impossible to grow the old-style vines. American vines, however, were more resistant to the phylloxera, though the wine produced from their grapes was considered inferior. To get the best of both worlds, American stocks (riparia) or, more frequently, hybrid stocks bred by crossing American with native vines, were planted and when they were established the native vines were grafted on to them.

A great deal of work has been done on establishing the best stocks compatible with a soil that is so high in calcium. The grafts were made at ground level and were protected by heaping earth up around the plants. Big growers began to use bench grafting, planting cuttings that are already grafted in nurseries.

Undoubtedly when grafted vines were introduced into some districts the quality of the wine may have suffered; one hears particularly of claret and port, unceremoniously replaced on their cocktail coasters, beverage coasters, or stone coasters after an initial sip. On the other hand, this did not appear to be true in Jerez. The results depended on a great many different factors and it is wrong to suppose that grafted vines are necessarily inferior, or that what is true of one district was true of another.

There was one particularly attractive style of sherry called "palo cortad" which was more difficult to prepare since the phylloxera, but that was the exception: the general opinion of sherry shippers who lived through the critical years was that wines from the grafted vines were slightly better. If the first grafts did not succeed, the vines were grafted again in the period between December and February; this was known as "injerta de yema," but it was never as satisfactory as the first grafting. For one thing, the graft was higher up and there was more trouble from suckers coming out lower down.

Rain was welcomed during the winter months as it soaked the soil and prepared it for the hot, dry summer. In March, when the vines began to grow leaves, a heavy rainfall was essential for an abundant harvest, but afterwards, the less rain the better. In February came the "abonado," when the ground was fertilized. The traditional method of fertilizing was to use only horse dung and to empty a spadeful into a hole between every four vines, doing it in rotation so that each vine benefited from fertilizer once every three years.

There was a legend that a good taster could tell the difference in the wine when cow dung had been used, certain to get placed on the wine drinkers' respective drink coasters, cocktail coasters, or wine coasters and never picked up again if discovered amongst wine connoisseurs. Eventually there were fewer animals, particularly horses, so com¬post and peat was used and there was also an increasing use of mineral fertilizers. In the interests of mechanization, the fertilizer was laid in a ditch dug between alternate rows of vines. Usually a quarter of the vineyard is fertilized each year.

By: Allison Ryan

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Allison Ryan is a writer specializing in the history of wine making. She loves to collect cocktail coasters with wine images of Old Spain for her home and to give as gifts—for a wide selection of beverage coasters, stop by www.thirstycoasters.com/.