There is still much we don’t know about the history, origins, and relationships of different grape varieties. A report in the scientific journal Nature provides us with a wealth of new insights into this fascinating subject.
Using groundbreaking DNA techniques, researchers have analysed 54 archaeological grape seeds, including 49 newly sequenced samples mainly from France.
They focused on seeds from the Bronze Age to the Middle Ages, allowing them to trace the genetic evolution of grapevines over roughly 4,000 years to the present day, yielding some fascinating discoveries.
Genetic analyses show what the wild, local grapevines looked like during the Bronze Age and that cultivated vines were already being used around 625–500 BCE. Genomes from the Roman era suggest long-distance exchange of grape varieties from the Iberian Peninsula, the Balkans, the Levant, and the Caucasus.
Vegetative propagation (i.e. planting cuttings instead of seeds) — visible through genetically identical clones found at different sites and across centuries — appears in the mid–Iron Age and then becomes an important part of viticulture.
And remarkably, one medieval sample from Valenciennes is genetically identical to today’s pinot noir (!), showing that the same clone has persisted for nearly 600 years.
Read more: nature
