Ampelography ( ἄμπελος, "vine" + γράφος, "writing") is the field of

botany Botany, also called , plant biology or phytology, is the science of plant life and a branch of biology. A botanist, plant scientist or phytologist is a scientist who specialises in this field. The term "botany" comes from the Ancient Greek w ...

concerned with the identification and classification of grapevines, ''Vitis'' spp. Traditionally this has been done by comparing the shape and colour of the vine leaves and grape berries; more recently the study of vines has been revolutionised by DNA fingerprinting.

Early history

The grape vine is an extremely variable

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of ...

and some varieties, such as Pinot,

mutate In biology, a mutation is an alteration in the nucleic acid sequence of the genome of an organism, virus, or extrachromosomal DNA. Viral genomes contain either DNA or RNA. Mutations result from errors during DNA or viral replication, m ...

particularly frequently. At the same time, the wine and table grape industries have been important since ancient times, so large sums of money can depend on the correct identification of different varieties and clones of grapevines. The science of ampelography began seriously in the 19th century, when it became important to understand more about the different species of vine, as they had very different resistance to disease and pests such as

phylloxera Grape phylloxera is an insect pest of commercial grapevines worldwide, originally native to eastern North America. Grape phylloxera (''Daktulosphaira vitifoliae'' (Fitch 1855) belong to the family Phylloxeridae, within the order Hemiptera, bugs ...

. Many vine identification books were published at this time, one of which is Victor Rendu's ''Ampélographie française'' of 1857, featuring hand-colored lithographs by Eugene Grobon.

Pierre Galet

Until the Second World War, ampelography had been an art. Then

Pierre Galet Pierre Galet (28 January 1921 – 30 December 2019) was a French ampelographer and author who was an influential figure within ampelography in the 20th century and before DNA typing was widely introduced. Beginning in the 1950s, Pierre Galet intro ...

of the ''École nationale supérieure agronomique de

Montpellier Montpellier (, , ; oc, Montpelhièr ) is a city in southern France near the Mediterranean Sea. One of the largest urban centres in the region of Occitania, Montpellier is the prefecture of the department of Hérault. In 2018, 290,053 people l ...

'' made a systematic assembly of criteria for the identification of vines. The Galet system was based on the shape and contours of the leaves, the characteristics of growing shoots, shoot tips, petioles, the sex of the flowers, the shape of the grape clusters and the colour, size and pips of the grapes themselves. The grapes are less affected by environmental factors than the leaves and the shoots, but are obviously not around for as long. He even included grape flavour as a criterion, but this is rather subjective. Galet then published the definitive book, ''Ampélographie pratique'', in 1952, featuring 9,600 types of vine. ''Ampélographie pratique'' was translated into English by Lucie Morton, published in 1979 and updated in 2000.

''Illustrated Historical Universal Ampelography''

In 2012, Italian publisher L'Artistica Editrice published ''Illustrated Historical Universal Ampelography'', a three volume set which contains the most important books edited in France and Italy between 1800 and 1900: the ''Ampélographie'' of Pierre Viala and Victor Vermorel, the grapes section of ''Pomona Italiana'' by Count Giorgio Gallesio and the ''Ampelografia Italiana'' of the Italian Ministry of Agriculture. The book collects 551 color plates of grapes from all over the world, with texts in Italian and English, which describe the morphological and agricultural characteristics of each vine variety, as well as their synonyms and historical curiosities.

DNA

Carole Meredith Carole P. Meredith is an American grape geneticist and was a professor at the Department of Viticulture and Enology of University of California, Davis. Career Before she retired in 2003, Meredith and her research group pioneered the use of DN ...

at the

University of California, Davis The University of California, Davis (UC Davis, UCD, or Davis) is a public land-grant research university near Davis, California. Named a Public Ivy, it is the northernmost of the ten campuses of the University of California system. The institu ...

, pioneered the use of

genetic fingerprinting DNA profiling (also called DNA fingerprinting) is the process of determining an individual's DNA characteristics. DNA analysis intended to identify a species, rather than an individual, is called DNA barcoding. DNA profiling is a forensic tec ...

for vine identification. Famous successes with the technique include proving the identity of

Zinfandel Zinfandel (also known as Primitivo) is a variety of black-skinned wine grape. The variety is grown in over 10 percent of California vineyards. DNA analysis has revealed that it is genetically equivalent to the Croatian grapes Crljenak Kašte ...

, Primitivo, and Crljenak Kaštelanski, and identifying the parents of

Sangiovese Sangiovese (, also , , ) is a red Italian wine grape variety that derives its name from the Latin ''sanguis Jovis'', "the blood of Jupiter". Though it is the grape of most of central Italy from Romagna down to Lazio (the most widespread grape i ...

as Ciliegiolo and Calabrese Montenuovo. Such exercises are giving valuable insight into historical patterns of trade and migration. DNA fingerprinting uses segments of DNA that do not affect the look or taste of the grapes. More recent work has identified the

gene In biology, the word gene (from , ; "...Wilhelm Johannsen coined the word gene to describe the Mendelian units of heredity..." meaning ''generation'' or ''birth'' or ''gender'') can have several different meanings. The Mendelian gene is a ba ...

s responsible for the differences between grape varieties, such as the ''VvMYBA1'' and ''VvMYBA2'' genes that control grape colour, or the ''VvGAI1'' gene that is

mutated In biology, a mutation is an alteration in the nucleic acid sequence of the genome of an organism, virus, or extrachromosomal DNA. Viral genomes contain either DNA or RNA. Mutations result from errors during DNA or viral replication, mitosi ...

in some cells of Pinot Meunier compared to

Pinot noir Pinot Noir () is a red-wine grape variety of the species ''Vitis vinifera''. The name may also refer to wines created predominantly from pinot noir grapes. The name is derived from the French language, French words for ''pine'' and ''black.' ...

References

External links

{{Authority control * Viticulture Botany

Early history

Pierre Galet

''Illustrated Historical Universal Ampelography''

DNA

References

Further reading

External links