Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
TWO
The Origin of Viticulture and a Brief History
of Italy's Grape Varieties
domesticated variety of the grapevine, derived
from the wild form. For the technically minded,
the correct names of the two species are
Vitis
vinifera
L. ssp.
silvestris
and
Vitis vinifera
L. ssp.
sativa
—the “L” is in honor of the naturalist Carl
Linnaeus, who named the species. The likes of
Nebbiolo, Sangiovese, and Chardonnay are all
cultivated forms of
Vitis vinifera.
Wine can be made from other
Vitis
species as
well, such as
Vitis labrusca'
s Concord grape, but
these wines often have a foxy taste (very grapey,
and reminiscent of fruit syrups, bubble gum,
and candied fruit) quite unlike that of those
made with
Vitis vinifera.
Therefore, the other
Vitis
species are used mainly as progenitors of
hybrids, or to provide rootstocks and table grapes.
For example, the American
Vitis
species
labru-
sca, riparia, rupestris,
and
berlandieri
are impor-
tant sources of phylloxera-resistant rootstocks.
Vitis vinifera
is a perennial plant that lives in
temperate climates. While ssp.
silvestris
has a
greater resistance to cold weather than ssp.
sativa,
neither are particularly cold resistant;
temperatures below -20°C can cause irreversi-
ble damage, as can excessive heat. This is why
ROMANCING THE VINE
The grapevine, a climbing plant much like ivy,
belongs to the botanical order Rhamnales, fam-
ily Vitaceae, which is divided into two sub-
families, Leicodeae and Ampelideae
.
The latter
is divided into fi ve genera:
Ampelopsis, Cissus,
Parthenocissus, Ampelocissus,
and
Vitis.
The fi rst
four include species of vines that are used
mainly for ornamental purposes, and only the
genus
Vitis,
which is further divided into the
subgenera
Muscadinia
and
Euvites,
is relevant
to wine drinkers. According to Fregoni, these
two subgenera contain roughly seventy differ-
ent species of grapevine (roughly forty of Eura-
sian origin, and thirty American), character-
ized by varying degrees of temperature, disease,
and parasite resistance. However, recently some
redundancies and synonyms have been elimi-
nated, reducing the total to roughly thirty-two
species. Of these, the most important is
vinif-
era,
the only one originating in Europe, Central
Asia, and East Asia. It is divided into two sub-
species: ssp.
silvestris,
which lives naturally in
the wild, and ssp.
sativa,
the cultivated or
