A subset of six susceptible and four resistant progenies from the ‘Chardonnay’ × V. cinerea B9 cross were inoculated in the greenhouse to confirm that genotypes with susceptible phenotypes on dormant canes in NY field also expressed susceptible phenotypes (more typical stem and internode symptoms of Phomopsis cane and leaf spot) in an independent experiment (California). Our findings in the greenhouse were consistent with field observations. ANOVA detected significant differences in % internode lesions among genotypes (p < 0.0001). The two most susceptible genotypes in the field, 454077 and 454045, also had the highest levels of internode lesions in the greenhouse (Fig. 3). Similarly, the most resistant genotypes, which had field ratings of 0 or 1 (454053, 455035, 454058), were not significantly different from the parents, both of which had field ratings of 1. Non-inoculated plants developed no lesions, which suggests that symptoms were not due to remnant inoculum from the field, but from a different isolate of D. ampelina applied. The Spearman rank-order correlation between dormant cane field scores and the ranking of accessions based on percentage of symptomatic area on green stems was R2 = 0.78 with p value of 0.004. Consistent with field observations, leaf spots were rare in the greenhouse, even among genotypes with susceptible stems.Fig. 3Internode lesions (%) on the green stems of ten progenies from the F1 family of ‘Chardonnay’ × V. cinerea B9, after inoculation with D. ampelina in the greenhouse. The proportion of stem surface, spanning the four assessed internodes, covered by lesions was visually estimated at 30 d post-inoculation. ‘Parents’ are pooled values for Chardonnay and V. cinerea B9. Numbers at the base of each column are field ratings of disease severity on canes (on a scale of 0–3, Fig. 1). Each column is the mean of three observations, averaged across three replicate experiments (24 plants per genotype per experiment). Error bars are 95% confidence limits. Columns with overlapping error bars are not significantly different (p < 0.05; Tukey’s test)