STEP 4 - GRAFTING

Welcome to the exciting world of Vine-Grafting!! :-) Simply put, we club 2 grape varietals together -i.e., we use the existing Rootstock (see a detailed previous blog on Rootstocks) and graft a new Wine varietal to it. The Wine varietal can be your choice - of course based on terrior observations.

So here we go!! The first step in this process of Grafting begins with collection of pruned Wine varietals from existing farmers / research stations. I am consulting with Indian Institute of Horticultural Research (IIHR), Bengaluru and hence had direct access to accumulate SHIRAZ and CHENIN BLANC cuttings from the institute. The number of plants was notified to IIHR, whose team promptly had kept the cuttings ready.

I have chosen SHIRAZ / SYRAH (Red) and CHENIN BLANC (White) as my Wine varietals. Syrah or Shiraz is a dark-skinned grape grown throughout the world and used primarily to produce powerful red wines. This variety is also blended mostly with Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot varietals. Chenin Blanc is a white wine varietal and Its high acidity means it can be used to make everything from sparkling wines to well-balanced dessert wines.

A team of expert Grafters from Nashik were housed for this activity. They started by reducing the length of these cuttings to an inch and half - making sure a proper bud selection is made, which will later transform into main plant. Once the cuttings were being made ready, another parallel activity was happening on Vineyard. We started removing or trimming Rootstocks and left out two of the best lot. We generally choose two stocks because just in case grafting fails in one, the chances of the other stock surviving is high. As shown here - the work has begun, where a small slit is made in the rootstock and the wine varietal is being inserted into it. Then to keep them intact, a thin plastic is wound across the grafted area.

A view of how a trimmed and grafted row looks like - note here every rootstock has been grafted twice, by choosing 2 of its strong shoots. The leaves / foliage is also thoroughly trimmed to accommodate grafting process. We make sure that the Rootstocks are not watered the previous day, to keep the area dry.
Another snap here shows you a clear representation of how the new Vine (Wine varietal) is married to existing Rootstock. Now the wait begins - till the grafted SHIRAZ begins to bloom! Extra care needs to be taken as the plant is physically hurt and proper nutrients like UREA and Potash is supplied through drip irrigation.

The plant soon enters into what we call the "budding" stage, where the small SHIRAZ or CHENIN BLANC's bud starts to open up! There is a lot of excitement in air as every "bud-break" directly attributes to grafting success. This also means that we have been watering our Rootstocks well and supplying them with enough nutrients.
Our success rate was around 95% - with some rootstocks not responding to grafting either because there was continuous shade or the rootstock was not yet ready to hold onto other variety. We plan to replace the remaining 5% by the other successful stock or by own root varietals.

The next stage we work upon is setting up of NURSERY - to house the cut Rootstocks, which can be later used in Vineyard expansion stages or just as replacements.