Jancis Robinson on Genesis of Grape Varieties from FT

[Joshua Kates]

http://on.ft.com/RnJkPR

Fascinating--though many of you may already know much of this.
Josh

[Victorwine]

viewtopic.php?f=3&t=37082&p=309415&hilit=Grape+family+tree#p309415

Thanks to Walt! (We now know Traminer is the center of the wine grape universe, and that most grape varieties are “kissing cousins”) .

Salute

[Anders Källberg]

http://on.ft.com/RnJkPR

Fascinating--though many of you may already know much of this.
Josh

Thanks for pointing to this article, Joshua! Even though I have tried to specialize in grape genetics, there is always something new to find. In this case I was especially surprised to read that Alvariño has been found to be identical to Savagnin/Traminer.
Cheers
Anders

[Hoke]

One Grape to rule them all.

[Carole Meredith]

In this case I was especially surprised to read that Alvariño has been found to be identical to Savagnin/Traminer.

Anders,
I think you may have misread that part of the article. Alvariño is not the same as Savagnin. The article states that cuttings from Spain that were disseminated to Australian growers as Alvariño are not Alvariño. Instead they are actually Savagnin. Yet another case of misidentification in the New World.

Carole

[Anders Källberg]

Ah! Thanks, Carole, for getting me right! If you had not corrected me, I might have spread my misunderstanding. However, as I wrote, Jancis' statement made me quite surprised, so I had intended to search for some more solid evidence. Not entirely unambiguously written, was it?

Anyway, the article has made me wonder if any known relatives to Albariño has been found by DNA analyses. Any information, Carole or somebody else?

Cheers,
Anders

[TomHill]

Ah! Thanks, Carole, for getting me right! If you had not corrected me, I might have spread my misunderstanding. However, as I wrote, Jancis' statement made me quite surprised, so I had intended to search for some more solid evidence. Not entirely unambiguously written, was it?
Anyway, the article has made me wonder if any known relatives to Albariño has been found by DNA analyses. Any information, Carole or somebody else?
Cheers,
Anders

Anders, you might check RobTebeau's FringeGrape site that I find a great resource:

http://fringewine.blogspot.com/2012/09/ ... spain.html

http://fringewine.blogspot.com/2011/09/ ... rbois.html

Tom

[Anders Källberg]

Anders, you might check RobTebeau's FringeGrape site that I find a great resource:

http://fringewine.blogspot.com/2012/09/ ... spain.html

http://fringewine.blogspot.com/2011/09/ ... rbois.html

Tom

Thanks a lot, Tom. That's indeed a most interesting blog for those like me in constant search to taste new grape varieties and also to understand their relationships. I've bookmarked it and will definitely revisit it.
Fittingly, at the end of Jancis' article there was a link to another article in FT by her on the subject of rare grape varieties:

http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/2/4d2fedc2-133b-11e2-ac28-00144feabdc0.html

At least I have come across two of those, Isabella and Pignolo. The latter being one of my favourite red grapes from Friuli. Strangely enough, she does not mention Isabella being grown in Georgia (not Georgia, US).

Cheers,
Anders

[Andrew Bair]

Hi Josh -

Thank you for the interesting article. Never heard of Luglienga, which is apparently also known as Lignan Blanc. Would definitely love to try Gouais Blanc and Reze sometime.

I noticed that Jancis says that she hasn't had a memorable wine from Cayetana Blanca/Jaén Blanco/Pardina. Last year I tried Viña Sastre's Flavus, which is 100% Jaén Blanco, and was quite good. Essentially, it's a white Ribera del Duero. I've also tried Alvear's Pardina Señorío de Alange from the Ribera del Guadiana, which was good, if not as interesting as the Flavus.