AREA II. Vegetative material and viticulture management
Project 7:

Foundation Block - Germ plasma

At present, the Carménère and Cabernet-Sauvignon vine varieties are of great interest to the industry.  The former due to its ‘emblematic’ place of honor among vines, and the latter because it is the most produced and exported variety in our country.  However, the industry is interested in solving certain current issues, such as the low productivity of Carménère, and improving the quality of the vineyard’s propagation material, using techniques that take advantage of local material, adapted to our conditions and terroirs.

The objective of this project is to select good quality material to make up the foundation block for the development of certified and disease-free clones which shall be of service to the wine making sector.

To this end, in the case of Carménère, trips shall be made to gather and select interesting material from the productive point of view, aimed at establishing a collection of mother material (a germ plasma bank) and a foundation block for new clones.  The sanitary diagnosis of the selections under study shall be carried out and the varieties to which they belong shall be corroborated by means of microsatellite tracers.  

In the case of Cabernet-Sauvignon, preexisting selections shall be evaluated to obtain clones of grapevines that allow the production of unique wines.
 
Micropropagation and mass propagation protocols shall be developed. The application of high temperatures (thermotherapy) and apex growth for the cleansing of viruses (sanitation) to Cabernet-Sauvignon and Carménère clones shall be implemented.

Finally, certificated Carménère and Cabernet-Sauvignon grapevines shall be supplied to the wine industry via nurseries with good infrastructure and technology. 

Project Length: 5 years