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- DrHow - 01-13-2006
It seems to me that, with DNA profiling, it should be possible to determine with some reasonable precision how various strains of grapes are related to one another. Yet my attempts to find any such attempt at classifying family relations between types of grapes has turned up nothing useful. I was hoping to find what might be a family tree for grape types. Which are genetically descended from what? Because of crosses, it need not be a strict tree.
If one exists, can someone point me to such a resource?
(If I had such a thing, I could answer curiousity questions such as, "Is it just coincidence that some Tempranillo wines remind me of Zinfandel?")
- hotwine - 01-13-2006
Welcome to the board, Doc. I did a Google search and quickly turned up http://caes.ucdavis.edu/News/Currents/SingleIssue.cfm?ID=79#1396
UC Davis has a very extensive program in viticulture and related sciences.
- DrHow - 01-13-2006
hotwine posted the U. C. Davis link. It is reassuring to know that there are some folks who are working on assembling the data. However, what I was hoping for was a succinct graphical representation of the relationships which can be inferred from such data. Actually, the little linked article does not give me much hope that what I seek has been worked out yet. I am more interested in the RESULTS of this effort than the effort itself. At least there is some prospect of its happening.
- hotwine - 01-13-2006
Doc, the Google search also turned up grape DNA work being done at Cornell, Fresno State, Adelaide and Mizzou. Lots of people are working on the subject, but it's still a very new field of study. And results must be thoroughly vetted, of course. For example, there is still disgreement regarding the popular contention that California Zinfandel is directly linked to (and perhaps even a clone of) Italian Primativo. The chart you seek is still a glimmer in the eye of the researchers.