The Winkler Vine was an example of large-vine grape culture. The vine was named after Albert J. Winkler, Chair of the Department of Viticulture and Enology (1935–1957) at

University of California, Davis The University of California, Davis (UC Davis, UCD, or Davis) is a public land-grant research university near Davis, California. Named a Public Ivy, it is the northernmost of the ten campuses of the University of California system. The institut ...

. Planted in 1979, the Winkler vine was a ''

Vitis vinifera ''Vitis vinifera'', the common grape vine, is a species of flowering plant, native to the Mediterranean region, Central Europe, and southwestern Asia, from Morocco and Portugal north to southern Germany and east to northern Iran. There are curre ...

'' cv. Mission, grafted on to a ''

Vitis rupestris ''Vitis rupestris'' is a species of grape native to the United States that is known by many common names including July, Coon, sand, sugar, beach, bush, currant, ingar, rock, and mountain grape. It is used for breeding several French-American hy ...

'' St George

rootstock A rootstock is part of a plant, often an underground part, from which new above-ground growth can be produced. It could also be described as a stem with a well developed root system, to which a bud from another plant is grafted. It can refer to a ...

. A great deal of research has been carried out on pruning,

training Training is teaching, or developing in oneself or others, any skills and knowledge or Physical fitness, fitness that relate to specific practicality, useful Competence (human resources), competencies. Training has specific goals of improving on ...

and vine size; by researchers such as: Ravaz, Winkler, Shaulis, Koblet, Howell, Carbonneau, Smart & Clingeleffer. Minimal pruning is a pruning/training system adapted from the principles of big-vine theory.

History

The

Mission Mission (from Latin ''missio'' "the act of sending out") may refer to: Organised activities Religion *Christian mission, an organized effort to spread Christianity *Mission (LDS Church), an administrative area of The Church of Jesus Christ of ...

grape cultivar was originally brought to

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the southe ...

from

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

missionaries and was introduced into

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

in the 18th century. Historically Mission was the most widely planted cultivar in California, up to the 1850s. The Winkler Vine was trained on a 60x60ft steel arbour, covering 1/12 of an acre and was capable of producing over a tonne of fruit. The Winkler vine was damaged by a tractor 'early in its life' and carried a large canker; eventually the vine became infected with the wood rot, Eutypa, causing its death in spring 2008.

Big vine viticulture

The vine was the classic example of big vine culture, where vines are trained and pruned to allow the plant to express its natural vigour; rather than forcing a vine into a restricted trellis system by heavy

pruning Pruning is a horticultural, arboricultural, and silvicultural practice involving the selective removal of certain parts of a plant, such as branches, buds, or roots. The practice entails the ''targeted'' removal of diseased, damaged, dead, ...

. Eventually a 'big-vine' will reach its maximum size and yield compensation will result in 'balanced' cropping. Big vine production of grapes is not economically feasible (due to the time taken to establish the plant); however it demonstrates the natural ability of a vine produce in sustainable manner (yield vs. fruit ripeness vs.

carbohydrate In organic chemistry, a carbohydrate () is a biomolecule consisting of carbon (C), hydrogen (H) and oxygen (O) atoms, usually with a hydrogen–oxygen atom ratio of 2:1 (as in water) and thus with the empirical formula (where ''m'' may or ma ...

storage).

References

{{reflist 2008 endings Individual plants University of California, Davis campus Viticulture