Abstract
The purpose of this experiment was to compare own-rooted vines and different scion/rootstock combinations in arid eastern Washington, where vineyards are primarily deficit-irrigated and own-rooted. The performance of Chardonnay, Merlot and Syrah on five rootstocks (5C, 140Ru, 1103P, 3309C, and 101CU) or on their own roots was evaluated with ten field replicates over three vintages (2007–2009) in the Yakima Valley AVA. At harvest two field replicates each were combined to make five winemaking replicates; 45 kg of grapes were made into wine. The grape variables measured were total soluble solids (TSS), titratable acidity (TA), pH, potassium (skin, seeds and pulp), tannins (skin and seeds), and anthocyanins. Wine variables measured were ethanol, TA, pH, potassium, tannins, total iron reactive phenolics, anthocyanins and polymeric pigments. Rootstock caused few significant differences in fruit and wine composition and instead the dominant factors were scion and to a lesser extent, vintage. All fruit and wine variables measured with the exception of TSS varied significantly with scion. Only TSS and berry size were consistently affected by vintage. Rootstock had no effect on grape anthocyanins and tannins. However, significant but small and variable effects were observed for wine anthocyanins and tannins. Wines from own-rooted vines tended to have somewhat higher pH, K+, and total tannin than did wines from grafted vines. The relationships between fruit and wine for anthocyanins and tannins were not straightforward and warrant further research.
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