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80 WINES&VINES August 2018 GRAPEGROWING WINE EAST of reducing pesticide use 50% by 2018. This has placed pressure on French wine producers to reduce their reliance on fungicides. Second, vineyards are embed- ded in the very fabric of rural communities across France. A well-publicized event in Bor- deaux, where several schoolchil- dren fell ill due to suspected pesticide poisoning, led to legisla- tion empowering local authorities to restrict spraying at certain times of day near houses or public buildings. Finally, there are practi- cal concerns about the cost of pes- ticides, fuel and labor needed to apply up to 15 sprays during the growing season. In a 2009 revision, the Euro- pean Union relaxed regulations prohibiting hybrids. The highest classification (Protected Designa- tion of Origin, or the French acro- nym AOC) requires V. vinifera varieties, but hybrids crossed with V. vinifera can be used in the next level (called Protected Geographi- cal Indication). In May 2016, France opened its official catalog of varieties to new temporary reg- istrations, including experimental plantings of "distinct, uniform and stable" hybrids. This allows plant- ings of up to 20 hectares at 10 locations. New ENTAV varieties This past year, the French National Research Institute's (INRA) ENTAV unit, responsible for foundation plantings and distribution of ap- proved clones and varieties, re- leased four new disease-resistant varieties. Two reds (Artaban and Vidoc) and two whites (Floreal and Voltis) are now available in the official ENTAV catalog. All four — produced by con- ventional cross-breeding — have two powdery mildew (denoted Run1 and Ren3) and two downy mildew (Rpv1 and Rpv3) resis- tance genes. INRA recommends that producers apply fungicides two to three times per year to protect the resistance genes and to control secondary diseases such as black rot. Contrast this to the 10 to 15 sprays made to sus- c e p t i b l e c u l t i v a r s s u c h a s Chardonnay. Independently, a producer group called PIWI (German acro- nym for "Pilzwiderstandsfähig," which means "able to resist fungi") is devoted to "dissemina- tion of fungus-resistant grape va- rieties." It has 350 members from 17 European and North American countries, some of whom have private breeding programs. Among them is the Domaine La Colombette in the Languedoc region of France, which has 15 hectares planted to experimental varieties in a "no-spray" block with names like Cabernet Noir and Cabernet Blanc. And Bordeaux producer Vi- gnobles Ducourt, which manages 450 hectares of classified vine- yards, recently planted a 3.5-hec- tare vineyard to hybrid grapes. The company states on its web- site: "We can tell you the results are amazing. We spray the very minimum in this vineyard, once or twice a year, using only copper and sulfur. The vines are healthy, the resistance stable, and the wines are good." The company recently released a wine called Metissage produced from this vineyard. It won't be eli- gible for AOC labeling, and must be clearly labeled as experimental under French regulations. Small start, but emerging trend? These efforts represent the prover- bial drop in the bucket, at least in Western Europe, where an esti- mated 31,400 of 2.7 million total hectares are planted to hybrids, which is a little more than 1% (see Table 1). In Eastern Europe (e.g., Romania, the former Soviet Union, Hungary, the former Yu- goslavia and Bulgaria), about 225,000 hectares are estimated to be planted, accounting for 22% (Bulgaria) to 47% (Romania) of total production. This relatively small start could turn into steady growth, given the pressures to reduce pesticide use in the EU. In order to sustain that growth in the marketplace, pro- ducers will need to be able to overcome the stigma still associ- ated with hybrid wines. Which brings up a final question: Maybe it is time to stop… The distinction between hybrid and vinifera is becoming less and less useful. Where early grape breeders were once satisfied with productivity, lack of labrusca fla- vor notes and phylloxera resis- tance, current programs are using elite cultivars with excellent wine quality as parents along with lines carrying known disease resistance verified through DNA testing. Newer varieties are becoming more and more vinifera-like. This fact has led Germany to classify certain varieties as V. vi- nifera, in spite of their incorpora- tion of North American Vitis spp. germplasm. Regent, an interspe- cific hybrid resulting from Diana (vinifera) and Chambourcin (hy- brid), was approved for Qualitäts- wein in 1996 and is classified in all German growing regions as equivalent to V. vinifera. The regu- latory approach taken was that Regent vines are indistinguishable from vinifera, and the wines taste like vinifera, so therefore it should be classified as a vinifera variety. Maybe it is time to stop calling them hybrids and start calling them "the disease-resistant variet- ies," which is what a catalog from Italy's largest nursery, Vivai Coop- erativi Rauscedo (VCR), does. This description places a more proper emphasis on the payoff these varieties offer to European viticulture: the ability to dramati- cally reduce the number of fungi- cide sprays needed to produce a marketable, high-quality crop. While widespread acceptance is uncertain at this point, it is clear that among at least a small group of producers the disease-resistant varieties have found a niche, and the market for low-input, sustain- ably produced wines will likely grow over time. Hybrids, scorned in Europe since the 1950s, may again see increasing acceptance as consumers realize the environ- mental benefits and higher wine quality that the new disease-resis- tant hybrid varieties offer. Dr. Tim Martinson is senior extension associate and Dr. Bruce Reisch is profes- sor in the Horticulture Section of the School of Integrative Plant Science at Cornell University, based at Cornell- Agritech in Geneva, N.Y. To see references and acknowledgements for this article, go to winesandvines.com and search under Magazine › Features › August 2018. Table 1: Area planted to hybrids and V. vinifera in portions of Europe. (Data attributed to L. Audeguin, J.-M. Boursiquot and OIV) Hectares Western Europe Hybrids Total % Italy 10,000 690,000 1.4% Portugal 8,000 190,000 4.2% France 6,000 785,000 0.8% Spain 4,000 975,000 0.4% Germany 3,000 102,000 2.9% Switzerland 400 Total 31,400 2,742,000 1.1% Eastern Europe Hybrids Total % Romania 90,000 191,000 47% Ex USSR 80,000 Hungary 20,000 68,000 29% Ex Yugoslavia 20,000 Bulgaria 15,000 67,000 22% Total 225,000 HECTARES PLANTED IN HYBRIDS COMPARED WITH THE TOTAL ACREAGE