Hard graft on a Sunday
Once upon a time, back in March 2010, before decent phone cameras existed….
Two craggy Montalcino brothers came to Il Palazzone today to do some topwork on a wild cherry tree next to one of our chestnut trees. Topworking is the technique of converting old fruit trees to different varieties. This is sometimes necessary when the existing variety is of inferior quality or a poor cropper.
The wild cherry in question has only ever yielded miniscule acidic cherries that are nearly all stone. Though perfect for enriching dentists and much loved by birds, the micro-cherries have proved resistant to all of our attempts to enjoy them. Changing the crop of this particular tree is a tiny part of our plan to branch out into the world of jams and preserves.
The branches of the tree are cut back to stumps onto which scions of a new variety are grafted. The scions – the budding twigs - came from a friend who thirty years ago took cuttings from the legendary cherry trees at Poggio alle Mura in the days before it became Castello Banfi. Apparently words do not exist to describe the qualities of these cherries. He pruned his own tree and kept the twigs in a dark cool place, waiting for time to be right for grafting.
Grafting is a specialised skill and the person who practises it is known as an “annestino” (coming from the Tuscan version of the Italian verb, “innestare”). Historically speaking the annestino was an important figure in the world of viticulture because of the vital work of grafting vines after the Phylloxera epidemic in the 19th century. European Vitis vinifera varietals were grafted onto the rootstocks of Vitis aestivalis or other American native species that were resistant to the devastating root-feeding aphid.
This method is called the crown graft (innesto a corona). The branches were cut away from the tree and we were left with two stumps. A vertical slice was made around the circumference of the stump, between the heart (the “anima” or soul in Italian) and the exterior bark. The scion is sharpened at a slant and inserted into the prepared slit in the stump so that the cut face of the scion is in contact with the wood of the stump. The stump is bound tightly with raffia and painted over.
The hope is that we will have the mythical cherries next season but as the proverb says “L'annestaresta nel legare” – the grafting is in the tying – which I can only translate as the proof will be in the pudding, in our case, probably literally.
And, eleven years on, the cherries are every bit as good as promised…. here is the 2021 crop!
