Issue link: http://winesandvines.uberflip.com/i/528936
July 2015 P R A C T I C A L W I N E R Y & V I N E YA R D 65 W I N E G R O W I N G and the University of Zagreb in Croatia. The quest for greater genetic diversity in Zinfandel first began when Austin Goheen, then director of Foundation Plant Services, was at the University of Bari in Apulia, Italy, visiting Giovanni Martelli. While dining, Goheen remarked that their wine was remarkably similar to California Zinfandel. He was told it was the Primitivo variety. Researchers at UC Davis first imported Primitivo cuttings into the United States in the 1960s, and isozyme tests were per- formed in 1976. DNA fingerprint analysis by Carole Meredith in 1994 confirmed that Primitivo was genetically identical to Zinfandel. Explorations in 2004-05 by Meredith, assisted by Mike Grgich and Croatian colleagues, discovered a few vines along the Croatian coast (former territory of the Austro-Hungarian Empire). DNA test- ing found that these vines, identified as Crljenak Kastelanski, were identical to California Zinfandel. Further collections and genetic anal- ysis by an Italian and Montenegran team found vines in Southern Croatia and Montenegro named Tribidrag and Kratosija to also be genetically identical to Zinfandel. 1 These European cultivars represent clues to the center of origin of our once quintessential Californian vari- ety and possible sources of useful genetic diversity. California Heritage Zinfandel block Selections from the Heritage Zinfandel explorations by Wolpert and his team were propagated, field-grafted to St. George rootstock and planted at UC Davis' Oakville Station in Napa Valley, in a replicated and randomized 2.9-acre block in 1995. The vines were trained in the traditional head-trained, spur- pruned manner and planted on a uni- form, 180 cm deep, gravelly Bale Loam. After five years of screening for viticul- tural characteristics and the presence of disease by visual examination and PCR testing, 20 Heritage Zinfandel selections were selected and moved to the next phase of the program. These selections were field-grafted onto St. George root- stock (8-foot x 6-foot vine spacing). Funds to plant, maintain and take data from this California Heritage Zinfandel block were provided by the Zinfandel Advocates and Producers (ZAP). The vineyard was divided into five blocks, with each block containing all 20 selections, plus two Primitivo selec- tions and the original FPS Zinfandel selection. Each replicate block contained A Zinfandel Heritage Vineyard Project was initiated by Dr. Jim Wolpert of the Department, of Viticulture & Enology at the University of California, Davis, in the early 1990s with the goal of finding greater genetic diversity in Zinfandel. In 1990, there were 34,000 acres of Zinfandel growing in the state, and only four registered clonal selections avail- able from Foundation Plant Services. The registered selections were considered to make low colored wines from very large berries and compact clusters prone to bunch rot. Clearly, more genetic options were needed. Wolpert began a search for Zinfandel selections in vineyards scattered across California that were 60 years and older, and assembled a collection team con- sisting of UC Davis emeritus specialist Amand Kasimatis, and farm advisors Glenn McGourty, Rhonda Smith, Paul Verdegaal, Ed Weber, Jack Foott, Janet Caprile and Donna Hirschfelt. The team collected more than 90 cuttings from 13 counties in the hope of improv- ing the diversity of available Zinfandel material. The main characteristics they searched for were small berries, loose clusters and a lack of red leaf virus symptoms. History of Zinfandel in California The history of Zinfandel in California, as described by historian Charles Sullivan, began in 1851 with the importation of various grapevine cuttings including Zinfandel material by Capt. Frederick Macondray and Samuel Perkins, his asso- ciate in the Massachusetts Horticultural Society. Zinfandel vineyards throughout California were planted during a grape acreage expansion in the 1880s and 1890s. Some of these vineyards still exist today and have been registered and cata- logued by the Historic Vineyard Society (historicvineyardsociety.org). These pio- neering vineyards were the source of Zinfandel material that would be col- lected in the 1990s. Before coming to California, the origi- nal Zinfandel material was most likely imported to the East Coast of the United States by George Gibbs, a nurseryman and horticulturist in Long Island, N.Y. His first shipment of grapevines most likely arrived in 1829 from a Royal Botanical collection of grapevine culti- vars that had been gathered from across the Hapsburg Austro-Hungarian Empire and maintained at the Schoenbroen Palace in Vienna, Austria. No further historical records of the origin of the cultivar could be found by Sullivan in his research. Other clues to its origin would be left to ampelographic and genetic research done at UC Davis Michael Penn, Michael Anderson, Jim Wolpert and Andrew Walker, University of California, Davis BY Search for Zinfandel genetic diversity UC DAVIS, OAKVILLE EXPERIMENT STATION