Why is the choice of spike so important?

In this area and until not long ago everywhere, to create a vine strain, the first thing was to sow or plant a plant (forgive the redundancy) in the ground and when it met sufficient characteristics (trunk diameter, foliage, etc. ), graft it so that the vine strain that we all know was formed.

The plant and the spike are the fundamental pillars of the strain, which is why it is very important to select both the type of plant and the spike appropriate to our land, since not all plants are going to adapt to the terrain we have. For this task, it is highly advisable to do an analysis of our land and consult with a professional, which is the most suitable plant for our land.

When is the best date to select the strain from which we will take the spikes?

The ideal date to indicate the vines is during the July/August season or rather, before we carry out the harvest. Because? Because it is when we can distinguish well, the factors that we are going to take into account when choosing the spike that suits us, the most important are: the state of health of the strain, whether it has good production and the grape variety, since once the grapevine has fallen it is very difficult to appreciate this very important detail. Below I leave you an image in which you can see small details that differentiate a Pedro Ximénez shoot from another that is of the Vidueño variety, such as the color or the distance between buds, although if you want to know more you can look at the previous post, the different types of pruning.