Relative Vigor Following a Severe Freeze of 18 Wine-grape Varieties at Brownfield, Texas

Abstract

Texas Tech Univ., in collaboration with the Texas Agricultural Experiment Station, Lubbock, maintains a research vineyard at Brownfield. Texas. Thirty-one wine-grape varieties are being evaluated for performance on the Texas High Plains. The vines were planted on their own roots in a completely randomized design with four replications and two plants per replication. The average rainfall, including supplemental irrigation, was ≈550 mm/year. Sufficient data exist for comparison of 18 varieties during the 1992–1994 seasons, following a severe freeze in Nov. 1991. The vines were trained to a horizontal bilateral cordon and spurpruned with two buds per spur and 10 to 12 spurs per vine. Pruning weights were taken from the surviving vines during the 1993–1995 dormant seasons. Pruning weights were used as a direct estimate for plant vigor. The varieties exhibiting lowest vigor included `Carmine', `Pinot Blanc', `Pinot Noir', and `Ruby Cabernet', while those exhibiting highest vigor included `Semillion', `Chenin Blanc', `Muscat Canelli', and `French Columbard'.