People make more of themselves as do the birds and bees, but grape vines are most commonly propagated with cuttings, or by grafting. A cutting is a trimmed length of vine that can sprout roots and become its own vine. Some rootstocks are more resistant to pests and disease, so grafting is more commonly used for vitis vinifera, or wine grapes, to give them a solid footing. Vines may also be grown from seed, but grape varieties don’t come true to seed - they’ll exhibit different characteristics from the parent - so this method isn’t used commercially. There is a fourth technique, perhaps the most fascinating, used to fill in rows or to expand a small vineyard, called layering.

When layering, you take a young vine from an existing plant and bend it back toward the earth. You bury a length of the vine, including at least one node, or bud, beneath the soil, leaving the tip of the vine above ground. This tip will continue to grow, and the buried length will sprout new roots where covered. When the daughter vine’s trunk diameter grows greater than that of the cane from the mother vine, you can cut the connector, et voila! You have a new plant.

In a sense, I feel I have layered myself, rerooted in youth from NY to CA, but alas, we humans do not reproduce asexually, so I’ve retained my eastern roots while growing new ones out west. There will be no cutting of the cane; I remain my singular self, but now I have two homes in my heart. They just happen to be three thousand miles apart. I’ve taken many flights from one to the other, transfixed by the passing landscapes when skies were clear, but this week, with my beloved wife and tiny dog, I get to see up close what lies between.

I hadn’t intended our first cross country drive to coincide with the reopening of the tasting bar at Oakland Yard, but plans don’t always line up optimally, and I trust you’ll get the party started without me. I left town with a heavy heart, but the stunning sights of Arizona, Utah, and Colorado have been a welcome antidote, and I look forward to tending to my New York roots before returning to my Oakland community. This week, Daniel and the gang are featuring wines by the glass from Austria, France, Italy, Germany, Spain and California, including bubbles and rosé, as we do. Go keep them company and raise a glass in my absence. Here’s to new beginnings and new adventures!

Cheers,
Max