Paneshi
Paneshi – is one of the indigenous red grapevine species of Samegrelo. Its production is mostly used for original type wines having local importance.
Academician Iv. Javakhishvili and Agr. Er. Nakashidze have a very brief description of Paneshi in their works (7.12). These authors have qualified Paneshi as representative of the low quality vine species group. While, according to P. Viala, it belongs to the group of table grapevine species (13). From our given data, Paneshi is more widely described in Ampelography by Prof. S. Cholokashvili (6), whereby Paneshi is classified as a member of the grapevine species producing original wine.
There is no further information about Paneshi available from either old or new literature sources that would be of use for knowing about Paneshi’s origins and distribution in Samegrelo.
We have been undertaking considerable exploration of viticulture in the Samegrelo districts for many years in order to discover and investigate old and modern grapevine species. According to research data, it can be assumed that an indigenous grapevine assortment had been widely cultivated in mountainside microdistricts of Samegrelo, particularly along the river valleys – to the south and south-east on sloping areas. Paneshi was distributed in the central and upper areas of the rivers Tekhuri and Enguri, also being comparatively less distributed in the gorge of the river Chanistskali in mountainside micro-districts of Tsalenjikha and Zugdidi. Native residents say that Paneshi was mass distributed in the gorge of the river Tekhura, and took second place after Ojaleshi. Old vines of Paneshi stand as evidence for this supposition, which are often turned wild and are dependent on the supporting climate.
As is known, the local residents produced common wine from Paneshi for mass use locally. Also, they used it for consumption grape for winter use.
After the damage caused by fungal diseases and phylloxera, the high vineyards of Paneshi have been almost completely destroyed. Currently, they can be found as exceptional exemplars in the gorges of the rivers Tekhura, Chanistskali and Enguri. The low vineyards of Paneshi grafted on philloxera resistant rootstocks are cultivated in Zugdidi and Tsalenjikha, in the village of Nakifu, where it had been produced by high quality practitioner I. Malashkhia. He cultivated Paneshi firstly in his private vineyard, together with other species, as grafts and then moved on to cultivate a massive vineyard of it on the village’s collective farm. It is quite normal to form low vineyards of Paneshi which provide very harvestable and high quality production.
Paneshi belongs to the Kolkhetian grapevine group by its botanical and agro-biological characteristics and is considered as a real representative of the endemic species group of Samegrelo. It is only found in Samegrelo: not in any other region of Georgia, nor abroad.
We believe that it is generated by natural reproduction in ecological conditions of this area. It has experienced the influence of centuries and domestication specificities. After possible changes, Paneshi has become one of a beneficial and very distributed species.
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Botanical description
Paneshi is explored and described in the village of Nakifu (Tsalenjikha). The vines are grafted on Ripari X Rupertri 3306, formed on a stick by following Georgian rule on one basal-fruit rootstock. The soil of vineyards is red-clay and the land declines to the south.
The young shoot
The first, newly opened leaf is bright green and covered by felt-like white down. Sometimes, especially on the peripheries, red coloring can be seen. The following fresh leaf is bright green, having a yellowish tone and from the top is thickly covered with white-grayish down, on the underside, it is covered by felt-like down and to the periphery has a slight reddish tone. The third young leaf is similar to the second one in its color and covering, only having less noticeable down on is upper surface toward the veins.
The young sprout
Young sprouts are rounded and strongly covered in whitish-grayish hair-like down. This covering increases to the top of a spout and is sometimes red in color.
The one year shoot
The developed sprout has an average width, is brown and slightly covered by grayish hair-like down. The length between axils is 10-16cm. The sprout has dark lines.
The leaf
Fully developed leaves are bigger than average, are thick and slightly oval, and are quite sectioned. Their average length is 16.7cm, while the width equals 15.95cm. The incision is closed and similar to an egg. Tops intercede with each other, while the bases are round or flat. Lyre-like points of rupture can also be found consisting of three or four veins and a round basis. In exceptional cases, there are also points of rupture which have one or two simple teeth.
The upper incision is often completely closed and has a narrow elliptic hole; rarely is it open, with a slightly cut angle. The lower incision is lightly cut.
The leaves are characterized by three or rarely five lobes. The top lobe creates a right angle to the leaf blade, rarely is it obtuseangled.
The teeth of the top lobe are triangular, having sharp tips and convex sides, or triangular and round serrated edges. The secondary teeth are triangular and have round tips or are triangular with convex sides and sharp tips. Rarely are they serrated and triangular.
The lower part of the leaf is quite densely covered with hair-like down while the upper area is mostly blister-like or sectioned like a web. Leaves can be found with wave-like surfaces too. The surface of leaves is streamlined has declining sides, rarely, funnel-shapes can be found too. The relation of the leaf’s petiole to its central major vein is 0,8-0,9cm. It is lightly covered and is bright green, while near to the basis it is a red wine color.
The flower
The flower is hermaphroditic, having normally developed pistil and stamens. Stamens are twice the length of the pistil and as a rule are apart from it. Some stamens are strongly deviated from the pistil. In one flower there are five stamens; rarely four and six. The number of flowers a in flower section buds can reach 500-900.
The bunch
The length of a bunch’s petiole is 4 - 6cm. The bunch is 11-14.5cm long and 7-11cm wide. The general shape of the bunch is similar to a cylindrical-cone. The bunch has an average density with wings that are half its length. The petiole of a bunch is like wood up to the middle part, while the second part is similar to grass and is bright green.
The grain
The length of a grain’s petiole to its pedicel equals 5-7mm, and is green. The pedicel is sectioned and cone-shaped. The fibers of the pedicel are colored by a dark wine tone. When tearing the berry off the pedicel, parts of the skin are left on it.
The berry
The berry is nearly black, larger than the average or small. It is 15.0 mm long and 14.2 mm wide. The length of a large berry equals 18mm and the width is 17.0 mm, while a small berry is 11mm long and 10.2 mm wide. The berry is slightly oval, is wider in the central part and has a rounded and sym end with quite thick skin and is juicy. Coloring pigments are not present in the flesh but are considerably concentrated in the skin. On the skin of the berry is a large amount of wax.
The seed
In one berry are one to four seeds, most often two. It is 6 - 7.5mm long and 3 – 5.5mm wide, dark brown and sometimes has a greenish-yellow tone. Its basic part is oval and is placed in the central part of the back, and to the underside is less depicted. The back side is flat. The tip is green-yellowish and 1-1.5mm long.
Agro-biological description
The vegetation period of Paneshi, from the time of bud’s opening to the time of grape’s full ripening, in Tsalenjikha, in the village of Nakifu equals 203 days.
The vegetation of Paneshi which is grafted on Riparia X Rupertri 3306 by following the Georgian rule in the village of Nakifu (Tsalenjikha) is done in the following way:
The awakening of the grapevine begins from the end of March and the buds open from the first part of April. The grapevine comes into blossom from the first of June and, in the case of proper climate, ends around 12-15 June. The ripening of grape begins from the end of August (28,VIII), while the grape mass-ripens from 20 October. The fall of the leaves continues from 10-12 November until the end of November. Therefore, the entire vegetation period of Paneshi- from the opening of buds to full ripening of grape -is 200 days, while until the end of the fall of the leaves, equals 244 days.
The grape growth
The low vineyards of Paneshi, which are formed following Georgian rule in the village of Nakifu, are characterized by an average level of growth and development. This refers to the vines which are cultivated in comparatively stronger soils. When the vegetation period ends, the length of particular sprouts can be 1.5 - 2m. On the highland areas, the development of vegetative parts of Paneshi is weaker than average- definitely caused by difficulty in cultivation and growing it on its own grafts rather than on phylloxera resistant rootstocks.
As was noted, the vegetation period of Paneshi is significantly prolonged due to the longer warm autumn. In spite of this, in the case of low vineyards, the vegetation parts of grapevines reach their development of sprouts by the time of mass grape ripening, when it takes the general characteristic coloring of the species. Regarding high vineyards, which are generally discarded, the parts of a sprout’s tip are often not capable of reaching their full ripeness and can freeze in winter.
The productivity
Paneshi provides first signs of harvesting from the third year after planting, sometimes from the second year. In this case it develops one or more a-typical bunches. The full harvesting period begins from the fifth year; this is quite a rich harvesting species.
Based on data of Paneshi’s harvesting (the average of three years), the fruitful shoots of a vine consist of 82%. The coefficient of harvest equals 1.8. On a sprout, two bunches often develop, rarely one or three. In the village of Nakifu, the yield of one low vine equals 2.5kg, while per hectare it is calculated as 80-90 centners.
The vine is easily adaptable to both long and short, pruning. Observation shows that in the case of proper care and cultivation, the loading for this species can be determined by 20-24 buds as a norm. This will make it increase up to 100-120 centners.
In the warm, moist ecological conditions of Samegrelo, Paneshi, as well as other species, is supported by the sun from the south and south-east. This is helpful for maintaining resistance against fungal diseases and is also convenient for maintaining the pure, original characteristics of the given species.
Bad weather can result in the falling of flowers, reaching 15%, and the developing of smaller berries in lower quantity (2-3%).
Durability against pests and fungal diseases
Paneshi is very sensitive to fungal diseases; especially vulnerable to dowry mildew. For example, the green masse of the remaining one or more high vineyards of Paneshi can be affected by a disease entirely. Only in years when there are no conditions for fungal diseases, the green masse of Paneshi succeeds in its development and provides a rich yield. Low vineyards can experience damage from fungal diseases, even though it is in better cultivation conditions. Therefore, a herbicide of Bordeaux mixture should be administered 5 - 6 times.
Paneshi is very weak against the influence of phylloxera. This explains the mass disappearance of high-vineyards of Paneshi.
In the conditions of Tsalenjikha district, Paneshi has fully avoided the threat of winter and spring frosts. The grape wakes on time and its vegetation occurs in normal sequence.
Agro-technical characteristics
Paneshi belongs to the wine species by its nature. In proper ecological conditions (on the south and south-eastern slopes and in calcium carbonate soils) it can be used for high quality table wine production of local importance. It is also important as a table grape species of local importance. The grape can keep very well during the whole winter.
The grape of low vineyards of Paneshi was picked in the village of Nakifu for carrying out mechanical-chemical analysis and preparing wine samples. Here are given the average data of mechanical analysis of a three year harvesting. (See Table 1).
As the table indicates, the weight of an average sized bunch equals 192.8g, a large bunch weighs 250g, while the small sized – 105g. The number of berries per bunch is between 90 and 135, in the average -195. In a bunch, 95.5% is constituted by berries, sprout– 3.8%, seed – 5.3%, skin – 18.8%, and the outcome of juice – 74.8%. Such an abundance of juice has to be considered as normal and characteristic for the wine species.
The weight of 100 berries equals 180g. In 100 berries are approximately 184 seeds, weighing about 8.8g. Out of which 36% are one-seeded berries, 46% are two seed, 16% - three seeds, while 2% of berries have four seeds.
At the time of full ripening, grapes consist of 19-20% sugar, while the general acidity comes to 9.8.
Very prized wine was made from Paneshi in the village of Nakifu by I. Malashkhia. The analysis of this wine was produced in the enology laboratory of the Agriculture Institute of Georgia, where, over time, a wine of normal alcohol content, harmony, light acidity and quite dense was achieved, which is quite relevant for original wines.
The results of the wine's chemical analysis: the grape was picked in the village of Nakifu on 19th September 1940; its weight was 0.9969; alcohol – 10.4o. The total acidity was 8.2 %, volatile acidity – 0.58%, extract – 21.54%, tannin – 0.81%, sugar – 0.33%, glycerin – 4.98%, and Aldehyde – 0.007%.
As the results show, the chemical nature of Paneshi reflects its evaluation after tasting. In addition to the normal consistency of alcohol (10.4o), it is characterized by a considerable amount of acidity (8.2%), less volatile acidity (0.58) and quite dense flesh (21.54).
General evaluation and distribution by district
Among the red-grape vine species of Samegrelo, Paneshi is really worthy of attention as a source of quite high-quality production of wine; it should be cultivated widely in the mountainside districts of Samegrelo, together with Ojaleshi.
Its production can be successfully used for a consumption grape, though only locally as it is extremely vulnerable to long distance transportation. The grape has good long-term storage ability; it can be left on a vine until the end of December or can be picked and kept until the spring.
Regarding its negative sides, Paneshi is vulnerable to fungal diseases and phylloxera. These weaknesses can be successfully overcome by proper activities, either by administering Bordeaux mixture 5-6 times or phosphorus 3 times (in case of fungal diseases), or by grafting grapevines on phylloxera resistant rootstocks – for fighting against phylloxera.
Based on our observation, Paneshi can be successfully cultivated in the following mountain-side micro-districts of Samegrelo:
- a) In the zones of Zugdidi-Chakvinji, Narazeni-Jikhaskari and Tsaishi-Chitatskaro: in the micro-districts of Zugdidi, Chakvinji, Uchashona, Tskhovreba, Jikhaskari, Narazeni, Abastumani, Khetsera, Tsaishi and Chitatskaro.
- b) In the gorge of the river Chanistskali: in the micro-districts of Obuji, Nakifu, Twalenjikha, Fuki, Sachino, and Jgali.
- c) In the gorge of the river Enguri: in the micro-districts of Jvari, Lia, Orjonikidze, Chale, Mujava, Fakhulani, and Kalaghali.
- d) In the gorge of the river Khobistskali: in the micro-districts of Shutsurtsume, Zumi, Kirtskhi, Lesichine, Chkhorotsku, Taia, Khabume and Mukhuri.
- e) In the gorge of the river Ochkhamuri: in the micro-districts of Akhuti, Chagha, Napirchkhou and Nakiani.
Bibliography
1. Demetradze V., Materials for Dividing Georgian Viticulture and Enology Industry into Regions and Specialization. Kutaisi, 1936.
2. Ketskhoveli N., Zone of Cultural Plants in Georgia. Tbilisi, 1957.
3. Mirotadze A., Types of Racha-Lechkhumi. Tbilisi, 1939.
4. Ramishvili M., Vine Types of Guria, Samegrelo and Adjara. Tbilisi, 1948.
5. Sharden J. Trip to Georgia in 1672-1673, Tbilisi, 1935.
6. Cholokhashvili S., Viticulture, Vol. II, Ampelography. Tbilisi, 1938.
