Dead-arm, sometimes grape canker, is a disease of grapes caused by a deep-seated wood rot of the arms or trunk of the grapevine

Vitis

Vitis is a genus of about 60 species of vining plants in the flowering plant family Vitaceae. The genus is made up of species predominantly from the Northern hemisphere. It is economically important as the source of grapes, both for direct consumption of the fruit and for fermentation to produce...

. As the disease progresses over several years, one or more arms may die, hence the name "deadarm". Eventually the whole vine will die. In the 1970s, dead-arm was identified as really being two diseases, caused by two different fungi, Eutypa lata and Phomopsis viticola (syn. Cryptosporella viticola).

Use in wines

Although the dead-arm disease is usually looked upon as a malignant disease that often cripples one or more vines, some wine

Wine

Wine is an alcoholic beverage, made of fermented fruit juice, usually from grapes. The natural chemical balance of grapes lets them ferment without the addition of sugars, acids, enzymes, or other nutrients. Grape wine is produced by fermenting crushed grapes using various types of yeast. Yeast...

 estates have discovered that the arms that are still alive when dead-arm has struck yield a very flavorful wine. One such vineyard belonging to Australian wine producer d'Arenberg have marketed this "Dead Arm" Shiraz, which has received high wine ratings among various wine critics.

Eutypa dieback

Eutypa dieback is caused by Eutypa lata (synonym: Eutypa armeniacae) which infects fresh pruning wounds when there is adequate moisture on the vine, such as just after a rain. The fungus also attacks many other hosts such as cherry

Cherry

The cherry is the fruit of many plants of the genus Prunus, and is a fleshy stone fruit. The cherry fruits of commerce are usually obtained from a limited number of species, including especially cultivars of the wild cherry, Prunus avium....

 trees, most other Prunus

Prunus

Prunus is a genus of trees and shrubs, which includes the plums, cherries, peaches, apricots and almonds. There are around 430 species spread throughout the northern temperate regions of the globe. Many members of the genus are widely cultivated for fruit and ornament.-Botany:Members of the genus...

species, as well as apple

Apple

The apple is the pomaceous fruit of the apple tree, species Malus domestica in the rose family . It is one of the most widely cultivated tree fruits, and the most widely known of the many members of genus Malus that are used by humans. Apple grow on small, deciduous trees that blossom in the spring...

s, pear

Pear

The pear is any of several tree species of genus Pyrus and also the name of the pomaceous fruit of these trees. Several species of pear are valued by humans for their edible fruit, but the fruit of other species is small, hard, and astringent....

s and walnut

Walnut

Juglans is a plant genus of the family Juglandaceae, the seeds of which are known as walnuts. They are deciduous trees, 10–40 meters tall , with pinnate leaves 200–900 millimetres long , with 5–25 leaflets; the shoots have chambered pith, a character shared with the wingnuts , but not the hickories...

s.

Phomopsis leaf

Phomopsis leaf, also called Cane spot or Fruit rot disease, is caused by Phomopsis viticola.