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[[File:Sangiovese grapevine.jpg|right|thumb|300px|A Sangiovese grapevine in a vineyard with a cane extended. Prior to this cane developing grape clusters it could have been planted in the ground to propagate by layering.]]
The '''propagation of grapevines''' is an important consideration in commercial [[viticulture]] and [[winemaking]]. Grapevines, most of which belong to the ''[[Vitis vinifera]]'' family, produce one crop of fruit each [[growing season (vine)|growing season]] with a limited life span for individual vines. While some centenarian [[old vine]] examples of [[grape varieties]] exist, most grapevines are between the ages of 10 and 30 years. As vineyard owners seek to replant their vines, a number of techniques are available which may include planting a new [[cutting (plant)|cutting]] that has been selected by either [[clonal (plant)|clonal]] or mass (massal) selection. Vines can also be propagated by [[grafting]] a new plant vine upon existing [[rootstock]] or by [[layering]] one of the [[canes (vine)|canes]] of an existing vine into the ground next to the vine and severing the connection when the new vine develops its own root system.<ref name="WSET">Wine & Spirits Education Trust ''"Wine and Spirits: Understanding Wine Quality"'' pgs 2-5, Second Revised Edition (2012), London, {{ISBN
In commercial viticulture, grapevines are rarely propagated from [[seedling]]s as each seed contains unique genetic information from its two parent varieties (the flowering parent and the parent that provided the pollen that fertilized the flower) and would, theoretically, be a different variety than either parent. This would be true even if two [[hermaphroditic]] vine varieties, such as [[Chardonnay]], cross pollinated each other. While the grape clusters that would arise from the pollination would be considered Chardonnay any vines that sprang from one of the seeds of the grape berries would be considered a distinct variety other than Chardonnay. It is for this reason that grapevines are usually propagated from cuttings while [[grape breeders]] will utilize seedlings to come up with new grape varieties including [[crossings (plant)|crossings]] that include parents of two varieties within the same species (such as [[Cabernet Sauvignon]] which is a crossing of the ''Vitis vinifera'' varieties [[Cabernet Franc]] and [[Sauvignon blanc]]) or [[hybrid grape]] varieties which include parents from two different ''[[Vitis]]'' species such as the [[Armagnac (brandy)|Armagnac]] grape [[Baco blanc]] which was propagated from the ''vinifera'' grape [[Folle blanche]] and the ''[[Vitis labrusca]]'' variety [[Noah (grape)|Noah]].<ref name="WSET"/>
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==Terminology==
[[File:Pinot noir, Pinot gris and Pinot blanc.png|right|260px|thumb|Pinot gris ''(center)'' and Pinot blanc ''(right)'' are color mutations of Pinot noir ''(left)''.]]
In viticulture, a '''clone''' is single vine that has been selected from a "mother vine" to which it is identically similar. This clone may have been selected deliberately from a grapevine that has demonstrated desirable traits (good [[yields (wine)|yields]], [[grape disease]] resistance, small berry size, etc.) and propagated as cuttings from that mother vine. Varieties such as [[Sangiovese]] and [[Pinot noir]] are well known to have a variety of clones. While there may be slight mutations to differentiate the various clones, all clones are considered genetically part of the same variety (i.e. Sangiovese or Pinot noir).<ref name="Oxford">J. Robinson (ed) ''"The Oxford Companion to Wine"'' Third Edition pgs 183-184 Oxford University Press 2006 {{ISBN
A '''color mutation''' is a grape variety that while genetically similar to the original variety is considered unique enough to merit being considered its own variety. Both [[Pinot gris]] and [[Pinot blanc]] are color mutations of Pinot noir.<ref name="WSET"/>
A '''crossing''' is a new grape variety that was created by the cross pollination of two different varieties of the same species. [[Syrah]] is a crossing of two French ''Vitis vinifera'' species, [[Dureza]] from the [[Ardèche]] and [[Mondeuse blanche]] from [[Savoie (wine)|Savoie]].<ref name="Wine Grapes">J. Robinson, J. Harding and J. Vouillamoz ''Wine Grapes - A complete guide to 1,368 vine varieties, including their origins and flavours'' pgs 316, 528 & 1023, Allen Lane 2012 {{ISBN
A '''hybrid''' is a new grape variety that was produced from a cross pollination of two different grape species. In the early history of [[American wine]]making, grape growers would cross the European ''Vitis vinifera'' vines with American vine varieties such as ''Vitis labrusca'' to create French-American hybrids that were more resistant to American grape diseases such as [[downy (mildew)|downy]] and [[powdery mildew]] as well as [[phylloxera]]. When the [[phylloxera epidemic]] of the mid to late 19th century hit Europe, some growers in European wine regions experimented with using hybrids until a solution involving grafting American rootstocks to ''vinifera'' varieties was found. Eventually the use of hybrids in wine production declined with their use formally outlawed by European [[wine law]]s in the 1950s.<ref name="WSET"/>
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