While wine is simply the fermented juice of grapes, it has gained a place in our psyche as a religious or status symbol. All wine is the same, yet all wines are different. Wine is a unique agricultural product and there are even services for wine delivery gifts. What other food product has aisles upon aisles in stores devoted to it, with so many different varieties and different producers? How can two bottles, labeled with the same grape and from the same region, taste so different? How do you tell the difference or try to decipher what is inside the bottle? Many factors cause wines to taste different from one another. The most obvious and the most important variable is grape variety. Beside grape variety, grape quality and flavor are affected by the climate, the type of soil, and the agricultural practices (called viticulture) used for growing and harvesting grapes. The wine making process also creates distinctions between wines, from chardonnay to cabernet sauvignon. All of these factors influence the quality and flavor of the final wine.
The Grape
Grape plants are part of the family of vining plants Ampelidaceae (or Vitaceae in
some references) in the genus Vitis (grape). Within the genus Vitis are many species
of grapes that developed around the world, including vinifera, labrusca, rotundafolia, and amurensis, to name a few. While wine can be made from any of these
species, Vitis vinifera produces the majority of wine as consumers know it. Within
vinifera there are several thousand subspecies, called varieties or varieties, which
have individual characteristics. Each grape species evolved as woodland vines, climbing trees to reach the sun, and producing tasty, easily pickable fruit that enticed birds to transport the seeds. Depending on the conditions of the area, some vines mutated to better adapt to their surroundings. These mutations led to the differentiation of the grape varieties.
As different varieties cross-pollinated, new varieties were created. Vines also propagated via layering, a process by which a vine coming in contact with the forest floor would sprout new roots. If the original branch was severed, then a new plant, identical to the first, would have been created.
NEW GRAPE VARIETIES
Due to the modern demand of wine and wine deliveries even in Singapore, modern nurseries use both the sexual and asexual propagation of grapevines to create new plants. If a nursery wants to create a new variety, it can sexually propagate new vines by physically controlling the pollination of the grape flowers. Pollinating a vinifera variety with a different vinifera variety produces a cross. Plant scientists often do this to create a new variety that will hopefully have certain desired characteristics from each parent. Because each attempted cross produced a different mix of genes, each cross has different characteristics. In some cases, the cross was successful enough to be recognized as a new varietal. If a plant scientist breeds vinifera with a different species (such as labrusca) the result is called a hybrid. Scientists hybridize grapes in an attempt to create a grape that has the great wine making characteristics of vinifera with the American grape plant resistance to phylloxera, mildew, and cold winters. Initial attempts resulted in poor-quality wines that tasted more like the labrusca than the vinifera (i.e., more like grape juice than wine like cabernet sauvignon). Further work has developed hybrids such as Vidal Blanc and Vignoles, which are commonly used for wine production in the eastern United States and Canada due to their increased cold tolerance.
GRAPE VARIATIONS
Whether it is a naturally occurring varietal, a cross, or a hybrid, variations develop within the group. Some plants may thrive better in wetter soil, some may like more sun exposure, or some may have a soil preference. A grower can take advantage of this by propagating the vines that do the best at that site. This asexual propagation produces plants called clones. The creation of clones is a controlled version of layering, which grapevines do naturally. Each plant is identical to the parent, so it is just as likely to thrive under the same vineyard conditions. The use of clones is not restricted to single, original sites, but is used by growers who have similar site conditions in other areas of the world. Growers looking to plant in new sites can compare the conditions of their site to those of the clone’s origin. They can then order from their nursery the appropriate clone that is adapted to that environment. Not all varietals yield lots of choices. Some grape varieties (such as Pinot Noir and cabernet sauvignon) are more sensitive to site selection than others, and therefore yield more clones. If there are multiple clones to choose between, that choice becomes extremely important. A poor clonal selection will result in an inferior wine, while the correct clone can yield a top-quality wine.
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