
A Medieval Grape Is Still Used to Make Wine - lordnacho
https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2019/06/grape-clone-wine-900-year-old/591181/
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amelius
A similar thing can be said for "spelt" (a kind of wheat).

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spelt](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spelt)

> Spelt was an important staple in parts of Europe from the Bronze Age to
> medieval times; it now survives as a relict crop in Central Europe and
> northern Spain, and has also found a new market as a 'health food'.

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pjc50
Rather odd to talk about wine continuity across the centuries without
mentioning phylloxera:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_French_Wine_Blight](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_French_Wine_Blight)

So the seeds might be the same, but the roots often aren't.

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th0ma5
I kept seeing somewhere for a while that Ohio based grape varieties are used
for the root stock now used, but I can't find this anywhere now. Perhaps it
isn't accurate.

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wjp3
Uncertain that they were from Ohio, but it was (and is) American rootstock
that’s used to combat the parasite.

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convivialdingo
I had read earlier that the rootstock came from Ingleside, near Corpus
Christi, TX. Wikipedia says they came from Temple, TX.

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archi42
At a wine seminar I attended a few years ago we primarily had wine from
Bethlehem and the general Palestine region. The importer told us that the wine
culture there is some thousand years old (which of course it is, at least
there is a tradition to turn water to wine ;-)); but he also said that some
grape farmers are growing grapes [again] that are as genetically close to the
grapes from said water-to-wine era as possible.

(I would love to give a citation, but couldn't find one within 2 minutes - so
take this as hear-say; though the importer, which is a good friend of a good
friend, seemed to be not the kind of person to make this up)

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twooclock
If anyone is interested there's a 450 years+ old wine still growing:
[https://www.slovenia.info/en/places-to-
go/attractions/world-...](https://www.slovenia.info/en/places-to-
go/attractions/world-s-oldest-vine)

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ThePirateofOz
And the oldest in the US is growing on the Outer Banks of North Carolina.

[http://www.themothervine.com](http://www.themothervine.com)

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ptah
>Meanwhile, the pathogens that prey on grapes have continued to evolve,
leading to major pesticide use

warning bells went off when reading this: it looks like wine industry as it is
now is unsustainable

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Mediterraneo10
It is a pity to see you being voted down, since the use of pesticides in the
wine industry (in volumes which exceed some of the other agricultural
industries that give consumers pause) has been a matter of fairly broad public
concern for a few years now, see e.g. [0][1][2]

I feel fortunate that in my country, wines in the production of which
pesticides were not used, are readily available and for comparable prices to
the other wines. In many markets, however, consumers do not have that choice.

[0] [https://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/03/opinion/pesticides-in-
fre...](https://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/03/opinion/pesticides-in-french-
wine.html?module=inline) [1] [https://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/04/dining/in-
france-pesticid...](https://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/04/dining/in-france-
pesticides-get-in-way-of-natural-wines.html) [2]
[https://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/food-and-
wine/wine/whic...](https://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/food-and-
wine/wine/which-countries-wines-have-the-least-amount-of-
pesticides/article26474846/)

~~~
Const-me
Same here in Montenegro. I don't know whether pesticides are used by
commercial wineries, but grapes just grows naturally here with very little
maintenance, not requiring any pesticides.

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c0brac0bra
I would think
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aglianico](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aglianico)
would be older still.

