gary’ s corner
By Gary Hewitt, MSc, CWE, SGD, AIWS
Photo by Ian McCausland
Pinot Noir: A variety of clones Clones in the viticultural sense are not GMOs( genetically modified organisms), products of genetic engineering with genes from unrelated species plugged into their DNA. Rather, grapevine clones represent a lineage of vines that can trace their ancestry back to a single mother plant. Each progeny grows from a cutting of a parent plant.“ Vegetative” propagation in this manner perpetuates a consistency of vine growth behaviour and of flavour profile from generation to generation. Such consistency is totally lost by planting grape seeds, which contain the genes of two parents and result in offspring that differ wildly from their parents.
Clones evolve naturally by small genetic mutations that give rise to traits a bit different from the parent, but not so different that the progeny is considered an entirely new variety. Because Pinot Noir is one of the oldest recognized grape varieties, it has endured centuries of little mutations to create an estimated 200 to 11,000 different clones( the number depends upon who is counting!). Clones differ in all sorts of ways, including shape and size of bunches, grape berry size, shoot growth( do they stand up straight or droop?), grape berry colour, and resultant wine flavours and structure.
Burgundy, the likely birthplace of Pinot Noir, has long embraced its fickleness. Centuries of selecting vines with desirable traits followed by local propagation created a patchwork of clones among the vineyards, a veritable treasure chest of clones. When the New World came looking for vinestock, they chose a few clones and added them to collections such as the one created at University of California at Davis. Growers in California and up the coast in Oregon chose from these collections, and a few individual clones soon dominated plantings.
At first, the challenge of matching any Pinot Noir to new climates and soils was enormous, but in time and with experience, new regions produced good, if not great, wines. Sure, the better wines tasted like true Pinot Noir, but too often they lacked nuance and complexity. Some winemakers and wine lovers found them, well, boring. Could it be that the diversity of vines in Burgundian vineyards is important for wine complexity?
As new clones of Pinot Noir became available, many growers diversified their vineyards and winemakers began to experiment. Sure enough, combinations of clones expanded the flavours, filled in deficiencies, and added complexity. Producers in regions such as Willamette Valley in Oregon( already nuts about their local terroir) went mad about clones.
Nowadays, ask any Pinot Noir producer about his favourite clones and more than likely you can sit back for a long one-sided conversation. You will hear tales of clones from France, the reliable ones with prosaic names like 115 and 828, but more affectionately called the Dijon or Bernard clones; of California heritage clones named for the vineyards— such as Swan, Martinelli, and Mount Eden— where they were first selected; and of the UC Davis Pommard clone, with its unbroken lineage back to a single vine from the Burgundian village of Pommard. You will hear of“ suitcase clones” such as Calera, which might have been lifted from the property at Domaine Romanée-Conti to be smuggled home in a certain winemaker’ s luggage. And if you travel to New Zealand, you may hear about the Abel clone, reputedly from the Burgundy village of Vosne- Romanée: it was discovered by an immigration officer in the gumboot of an intrepid, aspiring young winemaker. Perhaps this official understood the potential importance of this botanical transgression, for he chose to look the other way. Oh, by the way, the official’ s name was Abel. �
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