Innesti in campo ai selvatici - Field grafting onto rootstock
Pasquale at @fatalonewines is a 5th generation vignaiolo on his family farm in Puglia. The Patreras are trailblazers of the region: they were the first ever to bottle DOC Gioia del Colle Primitivo.
Pasquale went to school for physics before deciding to come back to the family business. Physics informs his approach to wine, from serenading the barrel hall with new age music to moving the wine into vessels based on the phases of the moon. The vibrations from the music aid micro-oxygenation through the barrels and facilitate batonnage (stirring) on a molecular level. Moving wine based on moon phases is just physics common sense, he told me. Unfortunately, he does not have the luxury of moon phase-based harvest decisions: the climate and thin skin of Primitivo don't allow for that. Primitivo can turn to jam here in the blink of an eye, and Pasquale does a masterful job of retaining freshness and vibrancy in his wines.
I was particularly interested in visiting Pasquale because of his massale selection program and field grafting onto pre-established rootstock. For his new plantings, he selects mother vines based on visual characteristics of robust vegetative growth and good trunk diameter. In a hot, dry, challenging climate like Puglia, he finds these qualities most important, more so than making selections based on tasting fruit.
The field grafting onto rootstock is about allowing the rootstock to establish deep in the soil for a year prior to grafting (there is no irrigation here), which gives a leg up on yield and vigor in the following year. He purchases rootstock as extra long bare rooted vines so they can be planted 60-70 cm deep. One year later, in late winter, the field graft is done on top as a direct match, not a chip bud. The soil is hilled up to provide warmth during the callus (healing) process. About 2-3 months after that, the scion buds burst. Pasquale says they typically have less than 1% failure rate with this approach in a year without drought.
Piacere di conoscerti, @fatalonewines, and thank you for introducing us @artigianoimports !