Issue link: http://winesandvines.uberflip.com/i/116287
s m a r t v i t i c u lt u r e from the Midwest, who are aware of local breeding programs by both institutions and private breeders. Surprisingly the republic of Georgia has low numbers of 27 and Turkey 26, but why might these two countries be a surprise? This is because Georgia and Turkey are suggested as "centers of origin" of the grapevine, a point of interest that is well covered in this volume. Here enters another distinguished American academic, professor Patrick McGovern (University of Pennsylvania), an archaeologist studying ancient fermented beverages and who has worked with Vouillamoz to study these sites of origin of grape wines. The book contains an excellent account of just how grapevine varieties come about, which few people understand. The process is not dissimilar to the way humans make babies: You need both female and male parents. Grapevine varieties come from seedlings; imagine if you planted a seed from a Chardonnay berry, and it grew. You would have "grown" or "created" a totally new variety. The only thing we know it is that the "mother" is Chardonnay, but we do not know the "father" without paternity testing, using DNA. The pollen may have come from other nearby vines (natural crossing), or from Chardonnay. Your "baby" vine may produce black grapes! Primitive farmers typically selected vines from the wild and began to cultivate them, then presto: We got today's varieties. I should add an important point. Since we "vegetatively propagate" vines from cuttings today, the new vines are identical to their parents, unless an occasional mutation occurs. The relationship between varieties, clones, and mutation is carefully explained—as is the concept of "Adam" and "Eve" 76 p r acti c al w i ne ry & v i n e yard APRIL 20 13 varieties, called "founder varieties"—in this book. With DNA technology, we can work upward through grapevine variety "family trees" to see which varieties are related to which others. One example is where the founder varieties in France included some familiar names like Pinot and Cabernet franc—and some less familiar like Savagnin (planted mistakenly in Australia for Alvarinho), Mondeuse Noir and Gouias Blanc. Some varieties thought to be French are more likely Spanish (like Carignan, Grenache and Mourvedre). Further, Cabernet franc may well have originated in Spain's Basque country! The introduction to this book goes directly to one of the most important contemporary marketing issues of wine: the use of varietal labeling, promoted initially in California to escape generic labels like "Burgundy" and "Claret," to encourage post-Prohibition wine consumption. The practice was widely adopted in the New World, and by the 1990s varietal labeling was so common that some French wines are now similarly labeled, rather than more traditionally by the region. Have you seen Burgundy wines labeled Pinot Noir in your wine store? This comprehensive book about grape varieties suitable for wine production is long overdue. Even for professional viticultural scientists such as myself, the literature about grape varieties has been confusing. There were classical studies based on vine vegetation and fruit attributes, a study called ampelography. These were typically regional and were difficult to use, as one grape variety may have many names, both within and between locations. Often the true relationship between them could not be exactly determined before DNA technology. This book is obviously the result of a great deal of research. It runs to 1,279 pages including the introduction, it has a 119page bibliography with more than 3,600 entries, also 39 pages of index and, amazingly, acknowledgements of 244 people worldwide. In itself, this list speaks volumes to the depth of research undertaken for the book. The book presentation is also outstanding. It is cloth-bound and comes in a heavy cardboard box—also cloth-bound. Being a lover of old books, I especially appreciated the faithful reproduction of the watercolor paintings of bunches and leaves from the magnificent French ampelography by Viala and Vermorel, dating back to 1901. There are 80 of these pictures, scattered throughout the book. The very heart of the book is the individual variety entries. They are exceedingly well organized and guide the reader through the minefield of confusing misnomers. Each variety is given a PRINCIPAL NAME (CAPITALIZED), by which the book is alphabetically arranged. The principal name is the one that is judged to be the most correct. Every variety has a brief sentence of description: For example, for COUNOISE (which I chose completely at random), it says, "Minor but valued southern Rhône ingredient, occasionally varietal." Then follows a berry color description, using five grades, and a list of principal synonyms and varieties commonly mistaken for (Counoise). All principal names, synonyms and mistaken names are listed in the index, which seemingly facilitates searching, but see later criticism. Then follows "origins and parentage" (and, if necessary "other hypotheses," where there is doubt), and "viticultural characteristics." This is followed by "where it is grown" and "what the wine tastes like." The latter entry will include planted area (from the latest census, which is not necessarily near the book's publication date), and some principal wineproducing companies.