Berlandieri x Riparia

25 October, 2006

The Teleki story

Zsigmond Teleki, a Hungarian viticulturist went to France in 1896 and bought 10 kg of ‘Berlandieri’ seed from M. Resseguier to rebuild his vineyards on his estate.

He obtained around 40000 seedlings from the 10kg of seed but to his disappointment and some surprise the seedlings consisted of a mixture of different varieties.

Teleki succeeded to classify and select 10 morphologically different groups of the material.

Groups 1, 2 and 3 showed pure Vitis berlandieri characteristics. Due to their poor root performing qualities these groups were never used.

Groups 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9 showed the characteristics of berlandieri x riparia hybrids.

Group 10 appeared to be a riparia x rupestris type which was also discarded from further evaluation.

The berlandieri x riparia types were divided into two sub groups.

Groups 4, 5 and 6 showed more riparia parentage with glabrous (hairless or smooth) organs.They were marked ‘A’.

Groups 7, 8 and 9 showed more the attributes of berlandieri parentage with indument (hairy) organs. They were marked ‘B’.

One has to remember that all this material is genetically not all the same as they were propagated from seeds instead of cuttings.

In 1904 Teleki send some of his best material to Franz Kober who selected and classified the Teleki material even further.

Kober classified the plants’ new growth according to colour and hairiness’ and used the letters A, B, C and D. He also assigned double letters to vines with greater vigour (AA, BB).

Rootstock varieties derived from this particular crossing are the world’s most widely used rootstocks.

This group is characterized by good phylloxera resistance, moderate nematode resistance.

They have good lime tolerance.

Rootstocks produce shallow root systems, induce low to moderate vigour.

They show a good affinity with V.Vinifera.

They are suited to cool climates, quality winegrowing areas due to earliness of maturity and moderate vigour.

Rootstocks derived from berlandieri x riparia are 8B, 5BB, 5C, SO4, 420A Mgt, 34 E.M., 161-49C.

Recent research shows that these rootstocks are not as susceptible to damage from Grass Grub compared to rootstocks from the riparia x rupestris crosses.

TELEKI 5C

It is probably fair to say that the majority of early (1988-1994) plantings post Marlborough Phylloxera era were varieties grafted on 5C.

Known to most grape growers and viticulturists as SO4 this particular rootstock was introduced into NZ by Frank Berrysmith in 1971 as SO4 when it was imported from the University of California at Davis.

It was only later in the mid 90’s that this rootstock was ampelographically identified as Teleki 5C. The use of DNA verification techniques has since confirmed this.

Teleki 5C was one of the most widely used rootstocks in the early transitions to alternative rootstocks because it was available in large supply from nurseries.

With Phylloxera taking hold of the Marlborough vineyards this was the major rootstock being used to replace own rooted Vinifera plantings.

It grows very well in the majority of Marlborough soils where soil moisture is managed with the use of supplementary irrigation as it has a shallow well branched root system.

Varieties grafted on 5C seem to grow with reasonable vigour which in vigorous sites can create problems. However, the way vineyards are more and more moving towards marginal areas this will work to an advantage in comparison with low vigour rootstocks.

SO 4

This rootstock was selected by the School of Viticulture in Oppenheim, Germany from Teleki 4A (SO4 = Selection Oppenheim # 4).

Two selections of SO4 have been available in NZ since their introduction in 1993.

SO4 Sica 8 is a selection from Geisenheim, Germany and the SO4 BDX comes from Bordeaux.

It is thought that 78 different clones of SO 4 are recognized in France.

SO4 advances maturity and ensures good fruit set which is of particular value when used with varieties that have problems with poor fruit set.

5BB

5BB is a Kober selection from the # 5 Teleki group. The BB indicates higher vigour. In Marlborough vineyards, observed side by side with 5C, vigour difference seems to be minimum.

A higher then normal cases of Phytophtora experienced with 5BB in Marlborough indicates that this rootstock does not like areas of prolonged wet or water logged areas.

This seems to correspond with Californian findings.

5BB performs like 5C in free draining soils.