Viticulture
Clones and massal selection
Which version of a variety you plant, and how much diversity you keep.
Overview
A clone is a sub-type propagated from a single parent vine, selected for yield, berry size, ripening date or disease resistance. Different clones of the same variety produce noticeably different wine.
Clonal selection gives uniformity and predictability. It also narrows genetic diversity, which is a real long-term risk.
Massal selection takes cuttings from many vines across an old vineyard, preserving diversity at the cost of uniformity. It has become fashionable again for quality-focused replanting, and the reasoning is sound rather than merely nostalgic.
The dominance of a few high-yielding clones is part of why some regions' wines became more uniform in the late twentieth century.
Sources
Sources consulted
- INRAE — French National Research Institute for Agriculture, Food and Environment — INRAE
- Vitis International Variety Catalogue (VIVC) — Julius Kühn-Institut, Institute for Grapevine Breeding Geilweilerhof
More in the vineyard
Viticulture
Climate and wine style
The largest single influence on what a wine tastes like — larger than grape, producer or winemaking, and the reason the same variety is unrecognisable in two places.
Viticulture
Climate change and wine
Warming is already reshaping where wine is grown and what it tastes like.
Viticulture
Harvest and picking decisions
When to pick — the single most consequential decision a producer makes each year.