Interesting article in WineSearcher:
WineSearcher:UngraftedVines
on wines produced from ungrafted vine. Their is an organization of European producers (France/Greece/Italy/Germany/CanaryIslands), Franc de Pied, who is supporting the promotion of wines from ungrafted vines. Of course, their are not a whole lot of vnyds over there of ungrafted vines. In their tasting, they found the wines from ungrafted vines were…surprise/surprise…better tasting.
Interesting that no US producers are involved.
Tom
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Perhaps because some combination of:
- So many US vines were planted on AXR-1 rootstock, which is vulnerable to phylloxera. After the massive replanting in the 90s (away from AXR-1), perhaps American vineyard owners aren’t taking chances.
- In the US, I don’t believe there are many vineyards on sand or slate, which are inhospitable for the root lice. (There are some ungrafted vines in the sandy Sacramento Delta, as I recall.)
- In the US, we don’t have many geographically isolated vineyards (as you do in offbeat parts of France, Italy and Spain) that were never infected, even though they are on their own roots in soils that would sustain phylloxera. (Do I recall that there are some ungrafted vines in the Sierra Foothills?)
- This may be a very European-centric initiative, where producers never thought to invite Americans.
Just some speculation I throw out there.
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I know Bechthold Vineyard in Lodi is ungrafted
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Actually, John…Calif has some of the largest plantings of ungrafted vines outside the Canary Islands. Particularly on the sandy soils in ContraCoasta/TheDelta and over in Lodi, where the phylloxera does not thrive. And some down in CienegaVlly/SanBenitoCnty. But don’t think there are much else ungrafted in Calif.
And some of the early OR vnyds were planted ungrafted.
Tom
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The Evangelho Vineyard (Contra Costa/Delta) is on sandy soils, right?
But a lot of those in the Central Valley aren’t high-qualify sites, right? Or are there hidden treasures?
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Rhys has some ungrafted vines in their Horseshoe vineyard, which they have released as a separate bottling in the last two years…
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Lots of ungrafted vines down here - plenty of sandy soils. I know Zaca Mesa has some from the late 70s and parts of the Thompson Vineyard are as well.
That said, Peter and Amy at Holus Bolus / Joy Fantastic have some ungrafted vines in the Sta Rita Hills and just discovered phylloxera in their Syrah block = replanting with rootstock in the winter.
Cheers.
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No US producers are involved for the obvious reason is obvious and not interesting - it is a European-focused organization. Francs de Pied Doesn’t have Chile listed either.
Jose Vouillamoz is on the scientific committee of FdP and is compiling a list of vineyards (and whole areas.) Ungrafted At some point it might expand to elsewhere on the globe.
I’ve been helping him out using CellarTracker data to find some wines and to catalogue producers from entire regions/
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Jasud had some ungrafted vines as well.
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No Portugal either which is famous for it’s ungrafted vines.
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Are there any strong opinions here about whether wines from ungrafted vines are better or even different than wines from grafted vines? If they are different, how so?
I did a tour/tasting at Bollinger this summer and they actually walked us through the Clos des Chaudes-Terres, which goes into their ungrafted VVF bottling. I was surprised to actually be taken through the vineyard, given that you never know what someone might track in… it was pretty cool though…
It got me wondering why there aren’t more ungrafted vineyards, and also what can be done to protect ungrafted vines. It is a “clos” so it is surrounded by a wall, but I can’t imagine that’s enough to protect from nasty insects
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Yup, John… ungrafted & very sandy soils.
There are actually some pretty decent sites in Lodi, particularly in the Eastern foothills.
Tom
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One of the big differences seems to be ripening at lower alcohol and therefore just feeling more finessed. But regardless whether you find the result better or worse as a matter of subjective preference, it’s objective fact that growers agonize over matching plantings to the right rootstock, so if choosing one rootstock graft over another is going to have a significant effect on the wine, then it follows that choosing between vinifera roots and grafted roots is also going to have an effect.
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I can help you with this
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Most of Washington State plantings are ungrafted, though Phylloxera has arrived in the past 5-10 years and many new plantings and new replacements are grafted. It was a marketing point for a long time, but I think the industry has (mostly) accepted the reality. My small home vineyard planted in 2015 is all self rooted.
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Wise words from Keith as always.
What I would add though is that can be possible (I believe) to also taste the difference, especially in a side by side. I asked @Lars_Carlberg on IG about his thoughts as Falkenstein has both grafted and ungrafted vines, and if I recall correctly then he mentioned that Gisela has an extra gear and vibrancy. It’s my experience as well and I think there is a textural intensity/density (might be what Lars considers part of an extra gear) to them as well.
I recall someone writing about vulcanic soil wines/vine and how they are unique in terms of flavor - to me, much of it sounded like what I associate with ungrafted wines.
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Pretty sure all of Jasud is own rooted. Has 5 different origins from 5 of the best vineyards in napa (including Mac ToKalon, Eisele etc)
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Thanks! When he updates me, I will loop you in.
I basically looked up instances of ‘pie franco’ , ‘franc de pied’ etc and checked against this list. I also ran reports of producers for entire areas like Cyprus or Colares. We will see if any deeper mining is needed.
Do I recall that German vineyard owners are required to replace ungrafted vines with grafted vines even if they’re on slate? I vaguely recall something that sounded stupid, and thus typical of German regulations.
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