Own-Rooted Vineyards - List and Thoughts?

WINE TALK
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My experience working with own rooted vines is they’ve been more vigorous (not less, as others have reported) compared to grafted rows (same clones, rows next to each other). In fact, the excess vigor was a problem when the vines where corton pruned…those issues went away when they were changed to cane pruning.

In the past, I’ve gotten fruit (Pinot Noir) that were the same (same clone, next to each other, picked/fermented at the same time, etc) but on different rootstocks (101-14 vs 110r). Those showed differences (the 110r fruit showed more herbal aspects).

Given that different rootstocks show differences (assuming I and others aren’t imagining differences), I’m willing to believe that own rooted have their own differences as well. It’s also likely that the tastiest wine may come from either rootstock or own rooted wine. But while the own rooted may or may not be the tastiest, it would reflect the variety/clone the best.

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There are three blocks of own rooted Pinot Noir and a block of Pinot Blanc at Fir Crest(Yamhill-Carlton AVA). I know Cristom Marjorie is own rooted but has phylloxera now, but I also believe their vineyard manager, Mark Feltz, has a family vineyard planted in the 70s that is own rooted.
Oracle has three blocks of old vine own rooted fruit, but a considerable amount of younger grafted vines in production now.
Abbey Ridge would be own rooted, as would parts of Maresh and Durant(a small original planting, also battling phylloxera now).
Original planting a at Winter’s Hill as well.
As Jim pointed out, pretty much anywhere in Oregon planter before the mid to late 80s will be own rooted.

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I don’t know anything, Doug, but I’ve read some suggestions that own-rooted vines ripen fruit at lower sugars than grafted vines do (or at least, than some grafted vines do). There’s a chapter on the possible effects of own-rooted vines on wine quality in the book Authentic Wine, which I think is generally well-done and interesting. Besides, as has been discussed here, grafting onto root-stocks has obvious effects on plants other than grapevines; it’s not far-fetched to suppose it might do the same for wine. There was speculation that one of the reasons for the broad increase in alcohol in Napa is that some of the rootstocks tend to produce too much sugar at full ripeness…

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In my limited experience with own rooted Pinot Noir vines at Wahle, Meredith Mitchell and Crowley Station, there aren’t any fruit set issues or other things like that. I don’t have grafted comparators in those vineyards though I plan to get some grafted fruit from Crowley Station this year along with rows of the original own rooted block. We’ll see if there’s a notable difference. I’m a little weird to some people because I really don’t think clonal or rootstock differences directly manifest in the wines nearly as much as they matter for farming issues. To me, site can dominate plant material in the wine though certain clones will set more or less or ripen earlier or later and like that site to site. And this rootstock vs that rootstock, including own roots, will have this effect or that on water stress and vigor and all that. But it’s harder for me to see all that in the wine. More experience may be necessary or perhaps it’s truly more a factor that, while there are flavor differences and acid differences clone to clone and even these roots or that, site still wins out if you make wine in a simple way. Ducking a little now because I’m guessing someone will call me naive or simply wrong. It’s just my experience, FWIW.

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Intriguing the 110r would show more herbal aspects. I guess the big question is to what degree clones, rootstock, etc impact transparency in site or ‘terroir.’

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I wouldn’t expect them to stand out much in the German riesling context given that one of the main things they’re going to bring to the table is naturally lower alcohol levels, and riesling alcohols can be all over the map depending on how the producer plays with the sweetness dials. So plant material that’s going to make the difference between 13% and 12% in a dry wine isn’t going to have much of a perceptible impact on a spatlese. If the producer wants it at 7.5%, it’s gonna be at 7.5%.

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I don’t think it’s impossible. Rather, most people, even those with opinions on the matter, haven’t tried. The guy I’ve talked to in Australia probably has more experience than most people with comparing grafted to own-rooted, and he is quite convinced that own-rooted does not mean better.

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Doug – I’m not arguing that they’re invariably better. I was just responding to your contention that they probably aren’t that different.

Cappellano in Barolo may be the best test of the thesis, as he planted ungrafted vines in the middle of his plot in Gabutti in Serralunga in 1989, using massal selection from other parts of the same vineyard. “I was sick of hearing the old-timers tell me, ‘Barolo was much better than Barolo made today on grafted American rootstocks,’” Teobaldo Cappellano said, according to Kerin O’Keefe in her Barolo/Barbaresco book.

I’ve only ever had a couple Cappellano Barolos, so I can’t opine on the difference in flavors, but O’Keefe says this:

[T]he ungrafted plants are sparcer, with fewer grape bunches, when compared to the lush vegetation of the grafted vines. “Veteran growers used to tell me they always felt the real reason behind grafting on American rootstock was to increase production, since the ungrafted vines were less vigorous and produced fewer grapes,” explained Capellano. And looking at the differences between the two vineyards, they may not have been completely wrong.

That’s interesting since the more vigorous, ungrafted vines are more than 70 years old. The own-rooted vines were barely 20 years old when O’Keefe was writing. Presumably they weren’t yet diseased.

Her observations are also in line with what Filipa Pato told me about the very low yields for her father’s ungrafed baga vineyard in Portugal (mentioned above). Also, I believe that Paul Draper at Ridge told me back in the 90s that one of the reasons AxR1 was used so widely in California, even though it was known to have low resistance to phylloxera, was that it was good for yields.

So there’s a fair deal of evidence suggesting that the rootstocks do materially affect the fruit, whether for good or bad.

Of the finished Cappellano wine, made exactly as the wine from the rest of the vineyard is, O’Keefe says: The ungrafted vines … produce a more austere Barolo with downright heroic structures as well as a persistent bouquet.

I don’t know what varieties your Australian guy is growing. Perhaps different grapes are more or less sensitive to the rootstock on which they’re planted.

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Interesting point. Add in differences in botrytis, acid and sugar levels, and there are a lot of different dimensions overlaid on rieslings when they’re sweet which might make differences in rootstock less easy to single out. It would be interesting to try dry riesling from the same vineyard, grafted and ungrafted.

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Lets not forget little old silver springs winery … One site 10 acres 80 % non graft … It does change the game with respect to taste …

Salute !!!

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BUMP

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Has anyone mentioned South Australian shiraz, grenache and mouvedre (‘mataro’.) I guess anything ‘old vine.’

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Someone poured me an Assyrtiko from Santorini recently and said that all the vines there are own-rooted. It got me wondering about other islands.

Did phylloxera ever make it to Corsica and Sardinia? This map indicates that it hadn’t by 1900:

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The OP never updated the list either. Must be buried in cobwebs.

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It could also be that the soils are very sandy…phylloxera is not an issue in Washington(at least not out in the Eastern part of the state). Which is lucky, since they do occasionally freeze the vines to the ground.

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All of Cyprus. (There might be some recent tests of grafting.)

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I think all or some of the Home vineyard was pinot grafted onto the cabernet vines that were there originally.

That’s not the same thing as typical grafting into rootstock, but it’s not really “own rooted” either.

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Not sure if this is within the scope of the thread, but I’m more curious whether there are real differences as between the wines from own rooted and grafted vines, if the vineyard, vine age and winemaking were otherwise similar.

I had a 2005 Joguet FdP last week that was so superb, not sure how much it owes to being own rooted per se.

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We farm about 8 acres, which include the Home Vineyard (Pinot Noir) and the Stone Soup vineyard (Syrah & Viognier). It’s all own rooted, with the exception of 1/2 acre of Pinot, a.k.a. The Old Block, 50% of which was grafted on Cabernet Sauvignon vines and 50% interplanted with own-rooted Pinot in 1995.

New plantings of own rooted vines in a new extension to the Home Vyd which we call “The White Field” include Sauvignon Blanc, Roussanne, Riesling, Petit Manseng, Viognier, Syrah, Mondeuse, Trousseau, Counoise, and Cinsault.

The nearby Renaissance Vineyard was originally planted all own-rooted (all 365 acres of it), but many sites were re-grafted over the years to other Vinifera varieties. about 30 acres of that vineyard are currently still in production.

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Colares from Portugal are own rooted by law, I believe. Almost pure sand soils over chalky bedrock.