The practice of identifying and taking CUTTINGS from vines that embody the best of specific desired traits—such as aroma, flavor, ripening ability, YIELD, and/or vine health. The cuttings are then propagated through GRAFTING to other ROOTSTOCK. Clonal selection allows growers and winemakers to balance the objectives of their vineyard and winemaking practices. If flavor is the key objective, then selecting a PARENT VINE with superior flavor characteristics is crucial. If the growing area has a short season, then early ripening ability may be the key factor. Determining plant characteristics can take decades. In the United States, The Foundation Plant Material Service (FPMS) at UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, DAVIS assists with this process. In France, the principal organization involved with clonal selection is ENTAV-INRA. They’ve established a trademark that guarantees French CLONE authenticity and license a small number of nurseries around the world the right to propagate and sell grafted vines and BUDWOOD of trademarked materials. Although clonal selection is the approach taken by many winegrowers, it doesn’t mean they use a single clone— many use a mix of clones to achieve their desired objectives. A process that bypasses clonal selection is called mass selection, where many vines are used as a source. This practice produces a variety of characteristics, which means WINEGROWERS usually cannot achieve specific objectives as well as they can with clonal selection. However, some winemakers feel using mass selection produces more complex wines.