The vine: a brief history
Did you knew that, worldwide, there are over six thousand varieties of vine? From the point of view winemaking, however, aa family of Vitáceas is the most important, because belongs to it vitis species and vinifera genus. It produces the vinifera grapes used in the production of wine.
The other types of vine, can, however, be used in certain situations as rootstocks of Vitis Vinifera. This technique helped in the nineteenth century the phylloxera to overcome the crisis through graft the branches of vulnerable species in other vines whose trunk was resistant to disease. This technique is still used today.
The Vine: a plant
The vine is a woody perennial plant that bears fruit only three or four years after being planted and capable of a longevity of 30-50 years.
It comprises two parts:
- aerial parts, consisting of the trunk and arms, lying the sticks at its ends, from which come the tendrils, leaves and then finally the inflorescences. Is the latter which later gives the curls;
- the underground part, the roots, allowing the plant to get fixed to the earth and thus can absorb the nutrients essential to its growth and maintenance. The growth can occur in both width as in depth, depending on the characteristics of the soil.
The vine: biological cycle
The vine, like any other plant, shows a different behavior depending on the time and season.
- During the late fall and throughout the winter, with low temperatures associated with the season, the vine keeps a state called "dormant". In this state, the vine exposes only the bare trunks to weathering;
- In late winter, when the soil temperature starts rising, occurs the "crying". At this stage, the pruning cuts starts to bleed, the buds to swell and the "eyes" of future tendrils out. The roots then begin to absorb the existing nutrients in the soil;
- Then begins the stage of sprouting: the tendrils begin to develop and the plant to fill with leaves, because of the weather: the temperature rise, increasing the number of hours of sunshine and moisture soil. In this period if the weather conditions are not the ideas and occurs, for example, the formation of frost, the successful development of the buds may be compromised;
- In late spring, when temperatures supposedly are beyond 15°C, starts flowering, followed by pollination and subsequent fertilization. The bunches of grapes are developed from the inflorescences;
- At the middle of summer, ripening begins, in which the berry of the grape begins to grow and change color from green, resulting from chlorophyll, to golden color for the white grapes, or dark blue/black in the case of red grapes;
- Maturation is a key step in the future quality of wine due to the fact that in this phase there is an increase in the concentration of sugars in the grapes, a decrease in content of acid and gains of aroma. At the end of this phase begins the harvest, which occurs, usually, between September and October;
- The harvest occurred and start arriving the first cold days of autumn and early winter. The vine's activity starts to decrease. The leaves turn a reddish color and begins to fall. The time of pruning, a process that will prepare the vine to start a new cycle, has arrived.