Massale Selection

An ancient method (literally mass selection) of establishing a new vineyard or replanting an old one by selecting numerous older vines throughout an existing vineyard, propagating them and planting them. Mass selection can help to maintain the consistency of style of the wine from a particular vineyard. The opposite of massale selection would be to replant a vineyard using specific clonal material from a nursery.

How often can cork bark be harvested from cork oak trees?

A. Every year, just like grapes

B. Once every 50 years

C. Once every 3 years

D. Once every 9 years

Cork oak trees can be harvested for the first time for cork bark after about 25 years. Thereafter, the tree bark is harvested every 9 years. A cork tree will be “stripped,” on average, sixteen times in its 150 to 200 life. There is a saying in Portugal (where most of the world’s cork oak forests exist) that: Nature got it wrong–there should be a cork harvest every year, but women should have babies just once every nine years.

“On one particular occasion, André [Tchelistcheff] and I were visiting Sancerre [in France’s Loire Valley], specifically Didier Dagueneau. But before we arrived at the winery, André told us to stop by the road. He got out and walked over to the vineyard, bent down, grabbed a handful of dirt in his hands, rubbed it and then told me to do the same. Then he said, ‘Smell it because that is what you will smell in the wine.’ And he was right. When we tasted Didier’s ‘Silex,’ I was overwhelmed by the aroma and unique mineral character in the wine.”

—Rob Davis, winemaker at Jordan Winery in Alexander Valley, California, talking about his mentor, the late André Tchelistcheff, who is considered the father of California winemaking

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