Varietal Labeling Question

The term Vitis vinifera applies to the cultivated (cultivars) or domestic species of vines.

The term Vitis vinifera applies to members of the vinifera species.

There are many cultivated varieties, especially in the USA, of whom one or both parents are members of other species that are not vinifera

Thank you Peter, you’re absolutely correct. But never the less, Vitis vinifera only arose when man started (showing interest) cultivating and domesticating (propagation of) the wild vines species of the Mediterranean area, Central Europe, Southwestern Asia, Morocco, Southern Germany, Northern Iran. Choosing those which they thought were the “best suited” for domestication and propagation. The “primary center” of the cultivation of the wild vines appears to have started in the area between the Black Sea and Iran. Thus from this area with the help of man the so called “best suited” / “domesticated” vines were transported to other areas of Europe in a way establishing secondary (maybe even tertiary, quaternary, so on and so on) “domestication centers” which diversified the so called “domesticated” vines even more (Giving man possibly more choices to select the "best suited" grape vines for cultivation and propagation).

Salute

The wild species of Eurasian grape vine that was domesticated to produce our beloved Eurasian wine grape varieties still exists in the wild. It is dioecious (has distinct male and female flowers on different plants), whereas the domesticated grape is hermaphroditic. As is often the case in Taxonomy, whether the two are considered to be the same species depends on who you ask. Everyone uses Vitis vinifera as the species name for the domesticated Eurasian grape vine. Some experts name the wild vine as Vitis vinifera sylvestris, a subspecies, with Vitis vinifera vinifera being the subspecies for the domesticated grape. Others call the wild vine Vitis sylvestris.

-Paul W.

[David M. Bueker]

Here's hoping there is no Vitis vinifera stallonis.

David wrote:
Here's hoping there is no Vitis vinifera stallonis.


Thumbs up on that one! A good classification for all the “Unknown Parent”

Salute