Cobere 5BB — this is an old and widely used grapevine rootstock, created by crossing wild American species in 1886 by the French agronomist Évrard Rességuie. The resulting seeds were sent to the Hungarian viticulturist Teleki, who planted 40,000 seedlings, and selected specimens were sent in 1904 to the Austrian viticulture inspector Cobere, who systematized the rootstocks and gave them names. This rootstock is characterized by vigorous bushes with long, straight, and spreading shoots, a powerful root system that penetrates deeply into the soil up to 7 meters, and high resistance to phylloxera. The cane matures by 80%, and the bud winter hardiness and root frost resistance are sufficiently high, making Cobere 5BB a reliable choice for southern regions.
External characteristics of the rootstock include a purple-red bud with a grayish-fuzzy tuft, a green young shoot tip with a bronze-red tint and dense tufting, as well as large, round or slightly elongated three-lobed leaves with a dense, leathery dark green blade. The leaves have characteristic petiole notches in the shape of the Latin letter V, weakly expressed indentations and teeth of various shapes. The flower is functionally female, and the clusters are small, cylindrical-conical, and loose. The berries are small, round, black with a bluish tint, and contain 3-4 small seeds.
Agrobiological characteristics of the rootstock include a late ripening period, shoot length up to 4-5 meters, and a vegetative period of about 180 days at an accumulated active temperature sum of 3250 °C. Cobere 5BB promotes increased growth of the scion shoots and increases the average cluster and berry weight, positively affecting yield. However, on very fertile soils, it may cause excessive growth, which worsens berry coloring and cane maturation. The rootstock is well-suited for light, permeable soils and is not recommended for varieties prone to flower drop during flowering.
