Winegrowers Supplies -  Vine variety information

Reichensteiner

Mother: Müller-Thurgau
Father: (Madeleine Angevine x Calabreser Froehlich)

Year of breeding: 1939
Country of origin: Germany
Breeder/License holder: Forschungsanstalt Geisenheim / Rheingau,
                                 Institut für Rebenzüchtung und Rebenveredlung
Number of clones:

Year of entry into the German Federal Office's Varieties Register: 1978
Area planted in Germany in 1986: 349 hectares
Area planted in England (as at August 2004): 88.5 hectares, 2nd largest

Wine Character - colour: yellow-green
                      - bouquet: weak, soft
                      - palate: light, neutral, not always lively -  needs acidity for structure
When the harvest is late it is possible to make an Auslese. Can be used for Süss-reserve or for blending with other wines. In a good vintage with sufficient acidity and ripeness it makes a very good dry wine on it's own. The wine 'consumes' very little SO2, hence it can remain in peak condition for more than 10 years.

    

photo by Julius Kühn-Institut (JKI), Federal Research Centre for Cultivated Plants, Institute for Grapevine Breeding Geilweilerhof - 76833 Siebeldingen, Germany.

Time of bud-burst: early to middle-early

Strength of growth: medium to strong
Growth of side-shoots: medium to strong

Flowering time: middle-early
Flowering strength: high

Leaf: - size: medium-large                 - shape: round, toothed edge, 3 to weak 5 lobed
        - colour: 
        - surface undulation:                 - petiolar sinus: V-shape, open

Grape bunch: - size: large, long          - density: medium to loose
Berries:        - size: medium-large      - shape: round
                   - skin colour: yellow-green (yellow to yellow-brown when fully ripe)

Time of veraison: early to middle
Time of harvest: middle

Grape yield: high
Must-weight: medium-high
Must-acidity: medium to low

Wood ripening: poor to medium
Winter hardiness: sensitive to severe winter frost
Wood colour: yellow-brown with dark brown stripes

Chlorosis resistance: medium
Susceptibility to - Oidium: medium                 - Peronospora: as Müller-Thurgau
                       - Botrytis: low                       - Roter Brenner: 
                       - Phomopsis: less than M-Th   - Stem-atrophy: 

Preferred soil: rich and never dry
Suitable rootstocks: SO4 and 5C in fresh soils, in weaker-growing soils 125AA; not 5BB

Normal stem height: 0.6 to 0.7m
Normal row spacing: 1.8 to 2.0m
Vine spacing in the row: 1.2m

Winter Pruning: 8 eyes/buds per sq. metre of land occupied by the plant. If pruned too strongly the next year's growth is weak and wood-ripening is poor. It is very fruitful on the basal buds, so it can be spur pruned.

Advantages: High flowering strength giving consistently high yields. High must-weight, low sensitivity to botrytis so the grapes can be left to ripen fully. The wine ages very well.

Disadvantages: Poor wood-ripening. Over-cropping causes a strong withdrawal of growth. Susceptible to very severe winter frost.

Notes: In has been used to breed Granoir (synonyms Pully B-28, Garanoir, Grand Noir) = Gamay noir x Reichensteiner. Thest crossing was created in 1970 in Switzerland.

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