In the taxonomic system, the grapevine is assigned to the subclass Rosidae (rose plants), the order Vitales (vine plants), the family Vitaceae (vine plants) and the genus Vitis, the grapevines (see Vine systematics). It is a climbing plant that originally climbed up trees. A grapevine can grow to enormous proportions and, in extreme cases, can be over 300 years old.

Morphology - main organs

The morphology (appearance) of a vine is divided into the main organs

• Roots (lower part) for the supply of water and nutrients
• Stem and wood area - perennial wood as well as the annual wood selected during pruning in the form of fruiting canes (from whose eyes green shoots with grapes sprout in spring) and cones
• Leaves (organs of photosynthesis) and tendrils (fastening organs)

In connection with the annual pruning in winter, it is crucial that the vine consists of a permanent perennial wood framework and annually newly formed annual wood.

Lower part (root system)

The entire root system lies underground, most of it at a depth of 20 to 50 centimetres, although this depends on the type of soil. The ideal soil has a good balance between water drainage and water storage capacity, so that the roots are forced to spread far and deep into the soil. This anchors the vine in the soil and provides it with everything it needs, such as water and nutrients.

In loose soil, the foot roots can penetrate up to 15 metres deep. The lateral roots spread mainly in the upper layers and absorb water and nutrients via the thin fibrous roots (root hairs). The dew roots located above the lateral roots (suction root, aerial root, day root, dew willow, dew sucker) spread just below the soil surface; they absorb the dew or frost.

Lower part (root system): 1 = grafting point, 2 = lateral roots, 3 = root stem, 4 = foot roots

Upper part (scion): 1 = one-year-old wood, 2 = biennial wood (in the following year; is then usually removed), 3 = cordon(old wood), 4 = trunk (old wood), 5 = water shoots (one-year-old wood), 6 = grafting point

Upper part (scion)

The "old wood", i.e. the trunk formed from the scion grafted on during grafting (artificial process of vegetative propagation) and the cordons (perennial arms or shanks) branching off from it, lies above the soil surface. Water shoots (unwanted side shoots) can form on the trunk (also underground) from adventitious buds. The annual canes and cones, on whose nodes the eyes (axillary buds) are formed in the leaf axil, stand on the limbs. The cane selected as the fruiting cane is biennial in the following winter and is then usually removed. The annually renewed...