A new quality assurance for the grafted grapevine

21 September, 2007

After consultation with viticulture nurseries throughout New Zealand a new Grafted Grapevine Standard (GGS) has been developed.

The objective of the GGS is to provide assurance to industry stakeholders that grafted grapevines that are certified according to this standard can be described as “high health plants”.

This new standard requires that stockwood and scion wood of the grafted vines have been tested and shown not to have GLRaV-3 at the time of testing (GLRaV-3 has the most detrimental affect on wine quality), are true-to-type, ensure traceability, and have certain physical specifications attributable of a healthy vine.

The standard has been developed as a means to ensure long-term sustainability of the wine industry such is the link between healthy vines and the production of high quality wines.

For the last five years, Corbans Viticulture has been operating under an internationally audited and recognised benchmark Quality Management System, ISO 9001/2000. Through these quality management systems the company has already implemented key controls that assist in preventing the spread of virus and thus ensuring that top quality wines are produced from top quality vines. So when New Zealand Winegrowers introduced the standard Corbans Viticulture were one of the first company’s in the viticulture industry to meet the standard (as audited by NZ Agri-Quality for bare-rooted grafted grapevines).

Corbans Viticulture quality management systems currently exceed the requirements of the GGS through an integrated approach to product, process and people using technology and a recognised production system.

A copy of the Grafted Grapevine Standard (GGS) is available on the New Zealand Winegrowers website www.nzwine.com and sets out the requirements that all certified grafted grapevines must comply with.

These requirements are as follows:

True-to-Type

The origin of the plant is known and is accurate under the guidelines specified.

Virus tested

Grafted vines have been grafted from rootstock and scion material have been tested and shown to be negative for GLRaV-3 under the guidelines specified.

Physical specifications

Grafted vines must meet the physical specifications for the specified category under the guidelines specified.

Management system requirements

High quality plants are produced with the entire process capable of being satisfactorily audited by third party auditors.

An additional quality control that the certified product must pass is “post-process testing”. This is an audited process whereby a random sample is taken from the certifiable product and retested as complete vines. This sample must be free of Virus Type 3(GLRaV-3).

The GGS quality assurance programme is paramount and the development of the standard is pivotal to the long-term sustainability of New Zealand’s wine industry. By using certified vines, grape growers will ensure that their new and replacement plants are of high health and will future proof their investment.

For more information pleas contact Mart Verstappen mart@corbansviticulture.co.nz or 0274 413 714.