Grapevine

Grapevine - vitis vinifera

Grapevine is one of the oldest crops in the world. Viticulture dates back to the Ancient Greeks and Romans, who brought grapevines to Central Europe. Cultivation in very different climatic regions and regional selection has given rise to a great number of different varieties in Europe. In 2004, grapevine was cultivated on 7.9 million hectares, producing 298,170 hl of wine. Germany grows on roughly 102,000 hectares nearly 4 per cent of the worldwide wine production.

A Long and Weary Road to Success

Despite long breeding cycles, viticulture owes its survival in the past hundred years to plant breeding. The wine growing industry in Germany had been in existential peril. Imported pests and diseases and low yields made viticulture unprofitable.

Breeders reacted by introducing clone selection, hybrid breeding and grapevine grafting. They were also able to improve disease resistance and yield stability. Breeding of grapevines is a long-term endeavour due to the complexity of the breeding objectives: resistance against grape phylloxera, against powdery and downy mildew, against drought and frost in combination with improved wine quality (sugar content, acids, colour and aroma) and agricultural traits (flowering and maturity times, growth, yield).

Grapevine Perspectives

Molecular marker techniques are already complementing classical plant breeding methods. Other biotechnological methods could help improve quality and profitability of German viticulture. New and improved varieties, however, first have to conquer market shares and cultivation areas, an arduous task with cultivation areas being replanted on average only every 30 years and tradition favouring the well-known old varieties.