For decades, researchers around the world thought that the vines of came for cultivation (Vitis vinifera) had gone through a unique moment of domestication in west asiafrom which all varieties of the drink. A new body of evidence claims otherwise. Separated by 1,000 kilometers and in the hostile climate of the last ice age, the events were actually two: one in asia and one in the caucasus. Everything seems to indicate that they occurred simultaneously, even with similar selection dynamics.
It is the most relevant conclusion of the largest genetic study on vine varieties to date, which the magazine advances this week Science. The work -carried out during the various phases of the pandemic and their respective quarantines- meant the sequencing of more than 3,000 samples from vines from all over the world, including some in the wild and others that were kept in private collections.
What is the perfect glass for each type of wine?
The study revealed that these periods of domestication happened 11 thousand years agoSimultaneously with the advent of the agriculture; no less than 40 centuries after what previous studies had suggested. Also contrary to what was believed, wine grapes seem to have been cultivated at the same time -and not before- than table grapes.
But the study doesn’t just look back: the authors identified genes that can not only improve color, flavor and texture of the grape, but also help winemakers to generate varieties more resistant to global warming and other extreme weather events. A beneficial management for the tables -and the glasses- of all Bacchus lovers.
FM J.L.
You may also like
