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Grafting over Monarchia's vineyards

The mission of the grafting is to change the varietal make-up of Monarchia’s vineyards to accurately reflect what is needed for the winery’s marketing plan.

We need more Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, and less Kekfrankos and Kadarka. We need to enhance specific blenders and eliminate others to further enhance the potential quality of Monarchia’s wines.
Grafting (rather than replanting) is the method of choice for achieving this varietal realignment because we save the root system of the original vine that has taken three to four years to grow. By grafting we do not have to buy new vines, incur the cost of planting them, and lose another three to four years before we are in production.
Europe, in general, does not change varietals in their blocks as regularly as in the US. This is primarily because of the stringent Appellacion Controlee/Denominacion De Origen laws concerning varietal make-up in each region. Therefore, the need and the art of field-grafting vineyards has been virtually lost. Almost all vine grafting is relegated to the green house. In California, field-grafting is alive and well as vintners and growers experiment with new varieties in new locations. These six field-grafters are experts in the vineyards of California. They will soon be experts in Hungary as well!

Photo: Markus Bokisch and Dr. Tamas Pok by Gyorgy Szanto

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