The famous varieties of European wines Merlot, Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, Pinot Noir etc. They originate from the East, as they come from the “marriage” of vineyards of West Asia (where they were first domesticated and cultivated) with local wild European vines. This is the conclusion of a new scientific study that made a genetic analysis of many different vines internationally.
Vines have been cultivated for almost 4,000 years in the eastern Mediterranean and for 2,000 years in western Europe. To this day, however, the origin of European vines and, consequently, the wines produced from their grapes, remains a contentious issue. Previous studies have shown that European vines came exclusively from the domestication and cultivation of wild vines in Europe itself, regardless of their previous cultivation in Asia. But new genetic analysis shows that this purely Eurocentric view does not seem to be valid.
The researchers, led by Gabriele Di Gaspero of the Institute of Applied Genomics in Udine, Italy, published their findings in the journal Nature Communications and analyzed the genomes of 204 common vines (Vitis vinifera). Comparative genetic analysis concluded that the wine vines came from a unique domestication and cultivation event that occurred in West Asia, most likely in the South Caucasus region about 7,000 years ago.
Subsequent “rounds” of mixing Asian vines with wild European vines followed, mainly in the days of ancient Greece and Rome (without it being easy to determine specific dates for this Eurasian “marriage”), which helped the Asian vines adapt in different Mediterranean and European climates.
Further analysis concluded that Italy and France currently have the largest genetic diversity of cultivated vines of the European countries studied.
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