Senior Extension Associate Tim Martinson (right) is extensively cited in a May 5 article in the New York Times, A Wine to Call Our Own:
“Tim Martinson, 56, a grape and wine expert at Cornell University, suggests trimming the new vine to one trunk and three main shoots. One concern with too much vegetation is air flow. Ventilation will ‘dry off the fruit sooner and reduce disease,’ Mr. Martinson said.
“The vine shouldn’t be allowed to crop until the third or fourth year. Removing the flower clusters for the first couple of seasons is a little like chaperoning a high school dance. There will be a time to blossom and bear fruit. But please, not now.
“The good news for aspiring vintners is that only one of the 30-odd species of grapes growing in the United States is particularly vulnerable to blights and pests. The bad news is that this imported species, Vitis vinifera, encompasses all the Old World varietals that we recognize (or pretend to recognize) by name and taste: cabernet sauvignon, merlot, chardonnay, riesling, pinot noir.
“As early as the 1600s, Europeans imported their beloved grapes to the original colonies with visions of sloshing the countryside in wine. Merchants and farmers planted vinifera prolifically, sometimes by legislative command. And they tended the plants with great care and expertise.
“The vines rewarded this persistence by dying, season after season, for centuries on end. The main culprit, Mr. Martinson said, was an American grape louse called phylloxera, which devoured the unaccustomed roots. (In the late 19th century, phylloxera would take a European vacation, killing off most of the continent’s grapevines in its wake.)”