Five New Varieties from UC/Davis

Interesting article on 5 new grape varieties that have been released by UC/Davis:
NewVarieties
which are highly resistant to Pierce's Disease. They were made by crosses of the species Vitis Arizonica (never heard of that one) that carry a single gene that is resistant to Pierce's.
Interesting that Adam Tolmach has planted some of them. He had a small planting of Syrah out front of his wnry that fell to Pierce's in the mid-'90's. He harvested his first crop this year. I'll be interested to taste it.
For some reason, I doubt that these varieties will make an impact in the NapaVlly.
Tom

Very interesting Tom, thanks.

Maybe not interest in California, but states like southern Texas and Florida which are rife with PD yet have a wine industry will embrace these new varieties. They sound promising and are mostly vinifera with just the gene offering protection against PD included.

Thanks for the pointer to the article. It will be interesting to see how the new varieties fare in the marketplace.

I see here an opportunity for GMO to benefit someone other than the herbicide industry for a change. They've identified the gene that gives Vitis arizonica resistance to Pierce's disease. So why not use CRISPR to introduce this gene into Vitis vinifera? Gene modification didn't exist when UC Davis embarked on this project, of course, so they had to introduce the gene the old-fashioned way through cross-breeding. But using modern GMO techniques to introduce it into, say, top-quality clones of pinot noir should confer the immunity without otherwise messing up the genetic makeup of the grape variety.

Has anyone discovered the genetic basis for V. vinifera's sensitivity to phylloxera?

-Paul W.

Good points, both...

Article and source doesn't say whether these new varieties are phylloxera resistant, so I'm assuming not.