Evaluation of New Pinot Noir and Chardonnay Clones for Sparkling Wine

Only the 13 Chardonnay clones were harvested, as the Pinot noir vines were too variable to include in 1998. Chardonnay clones were harvested over a 7-day period from September 7 through September 14. Juice yield (adjusted for the differing amounts of fruit) ranged from 135 gallons per ton (Clone 132) to 173 gallons (Clone 4 and Wente). Fruit yields in the difficult fruit-set year of 1998 were similar among clones, varying only from about 5.1 to 6.4 kg/vine, except for Wente which yielded only 3 kg/vine. With the exception of cluster number, Wente was the most radically different in other yield components, having the lightest cluster (75 g), 40 to 50%lighter than other clones. This resulted from having somewhat fewer berries per cluster (89) and 40%smaller berries (84 g per 100 berries). Among the remaining clones, cluster weights generally fell into two groups, one at about 150 g (4, 75, 96, 121) and another at about 130 g (76, 78, 118, 134, 130, 131, 132). Triplicate fermentations of each Chardonnay clone were made at UC Davis and will be further evaluated in 1999.