Clones for viticulture in Canada: National clonal selection program

Clones for viticulture in Canada: National clonal selection program Jim Willwerth from CCOVI at Brock University highlights the importance of clonal propagation in grapevine cultivation, as new vines are grown from cuttings of a ‘mother vine’ to preserve desirable traits. He also advocates for a national clonal selection program to assess new clones for Canada’s cool climate. Commercial grapevine propagation is primarily performed through vegetative propagation, resulting in clonal propagation. This typically involves taking a cutting from a mother vine and creating conditions for it to establish roots and grow as a new vine. The individual vine or group of vines propagated from this single organism (the mother vine) is called a ‘clone’. This ensures that new vines remain ‘true to type’ where the variety with desirable attributes is retained and then planted in vineyards.