In vineyards planted 30 to 50 years ago? No.
Can’t you see the grafts?[/quote
Would the absence mean there was no graft? Not necessarily. They’re outside and in the ground and shit happens and all.
Grafts are sometimes really hard to see on younger vines too - they’re not like trees that grow nice and straight.
John - I knew I’d read this before! Here’s a study from UC dating to 1989. The thing that struck me just now is that they say there were lots of grapes planted in St Louis Obispo over the prior 20 years and most were on their own roots!
Anyhow, there is a correlation to yield and they imply a link to pH, which is probably why I was thinking about that. It’s a key consideration in grafted roses, so I guess I just made the connection. Interesting study though and look what they have to say about the AxR1 in the conclusion.
Portions of vineyard blocks within Zaca Mesa are own-rooted, including the entire Black Bear Block (Mesa H).
Jean Spizzo has a vineyard of Braquet, in AC Bellet, which he, and his father before him, has been layering for years making quite a lot of the vines by now on their own roots. I hope this is weird enough for you!
All the vines in Santorini are ungrafted, and also because of layering (‘spiralling’ might be more appopriate a word in the case of koulara system I guess), some of them are up to 400 years old.
Phylloxera cannot travel through sand, but I believe it is actually the absence of clay that is the determining factor, making volcanic soils such as Santorini, similarly immune.
Plenty of ungrafted vines in Australia of course.
Really? I absolutely loved Cline’s release of these from '94 and '95. Not so much later on. Would love to see what they could do in your hands.
You beat me to it. I think they didn’t make a big deal of it before because it doesn’t really matter when it comes to wine quality. Marketing is a whole different story.
North of the SLH, there’s an own rooted Pinot vineyard where yields are definitely not lower. In that instance, grafting to a more suitable rootstock would have been a better decision, also not an ideal site.
Many pre-80s plantings throughout Monterey County that are on vinifera roots, though several have been grafted to other varieties. Among them, the legendary SMD vineyard, I think a lot of Zabala’s older stuff. Like SBC, we have really light soils in most regions and very little phylloxera pressure.
Also several older vineyards in the Cienega Valley that are own rooted.
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Our Kimberly’s Vineyard, Henderson hill, the Zinfandel at Marrier, and Arias here in Humboldt.
Question for the winemakers: Do you feel there are significant differences between own-rooted and grafted in the end product?
You can taste for yourself - Cappellano, Joguet, Baudry, probably some others that escape me right now.
Keith - Believe me, I have been. Just curious to hear winemaker opinion since they will have more tasting experience within vineyard blocks which may contain varied rootstocks, etc.
I have some Breton and Roche Neuves FDP teed up for later this week.
In my limited experience:
–A comparative tasting of the Joguet Chinons, grafted and ungrafed, 20+ years ago showed a distinct difference. I just don’t remember what it was. 
–Likewise, Pato’s ungrafted vineyard yields more concentrated, lush wines.
In both cases, I suppose you could attribute this to soil differences, though, since ungrafted vines are in sandy soils.
Ishi Pishi Ranch in NE Humboldt, north of Orleans. Phelps Vineyard in Southern Humboldt is mostly self rooted as well, but I don’t know the exact percentage. Mostly cuttings from Ronda’s Vineyard.
Doug,
Why are you so sure there’s no difference?
Fair question, Oliver, and after reading some of the posts here, I am no longer so sure, but that’s still my theory. I haven’t heard of anyone who thinks there is a difference comparing wines from vines with all other things being equal (vine age, soil type, training/pruning, yields, aspect, etc). I have talked to people who have at least gotten close to that (equal is probably impossible since the rootstock affects how the vine takes up nutrients and water as well as vigor), and they think there isn’t much or any difference. When it comes down to it, they don’t know for sure either. I think we do have to say rootstock matters because it affects a lot of things, but the idea that own-rooted vines make inherently better wines seems quite romantic and unfounded to me. Cathy Corison talks about vines on St George having some of the same benefits claimed by own-rooted devotees simply because the vines aren’t very healthy. I haven’t known her to make the comparison to own-rooted vines, but it seems apt to me.
Do you think otherwise? If so, I’d be interested to know why. Maybe you know something about this that I don’t.
Other things are never equal, of course. Particularly since own-rooted vines generally are in isolated areas or are on sandy or other bug-unfriendly soil, and in some cases their yields are naturally lower than the same variety with grafted vines. So you set an impossible standard.
I have zero doubt that some notable percentage of any perceived quality difference is emotional versus real. I had zero idea about many of the own rooted German vineyards for a very long time. The wines did not stand out on their own merits then, nor do they now.
I don’t doubt for a minute that that’s true in some cases.
Roots definitely impact the scion’s vigor. This means leaf growth can be different between various rootstocks and own-rooted vines.