Budding Knife
notes: label: Description
content: Oscar Robledo used this knife to graft (“bud”) grapevines in the field. Its thin, sharp blade is set in a short, wooden handle that is wrapped with layers of tape, indicating many seasons of use. Budding, a highly valued skill in wine country, requires precision as well as stamina. Robeldo carried this knife and a leather strap for sharpening it, along with a roll of tape and sticks of budwood in a handmade box as he budded vines in his family’s vineyards in the Napa and Sonoma Valleys. There he grafted new buds onto healthy rootstock, a practice that allows growers to plant different varietals (e.g., Chardonnay, Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon) onto mature roots.
label: Description
content: Oscar is a member of the Sonoma-based Robledo winegrowing family. His brother Reynaldo migrated north from Michoacán in 1968. Following their father, who worked in the bracero program (a contract labor program that brought Mexican men to work in the United States between 1942 and 1964), Reynaldo found work in the rapidly expanding vineyards of Napa and Sonoma. He rose quickly from vineyard laborer to budder, and eventually to vineyard manager. By the 1990s he had purchased significant acreage and established the Robledo Family Winery. Reynaldo Robledo’s wife, children, and several members of the extended family are active in the wine business, producing wines that complement the family’s Mexican roots.
topic: label: Subject
content: Wine
setName: label: See more items in
content: Work and Industry: Food Technology
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content: Food
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content: FOOD: Transforming the American Table 1950-2000
label: Exhibition
content: Food: Transforming the American Table
label: Exhibition Location
content: National Museum of American History
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: gift of Everardo Robledo
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 2011.0237.03
label: catalog number
content: 2011.0237.03
label: accession number
content: 2011.0237
objectType: label: Object Name
content: budding box blade
label: Object Name
content: budding knife
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: metal (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: plastic (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: cardboard (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: adhesive (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: fabric (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 6 3/4 in x 1/2 in x 3/4 in; 17.145 cm x 1.27 cm x 1.905 cm