engleski

"Malvazija istarska" and "Malvasia dubrovacka" - Croatian or Greek cultivars?

The uniqueness and quality of wine is mostly determined by the grape variety the wine is made of. A grape “ variety” (also called cultivar) is a population of vines that are characterized by uniform and specific traits of the grape in term of shape, size, color and quality giving always almost the same quality and character of its wine. Varieties are maintaining through vegetative propagation (by cuttings), which assures the same appearance and quality of grape in the proceeding generation. Thanks to this property, original (autochthonous) grape varieties can be spread through the space and time, but keeping its original genetic code unchanged for centuries. Modern methods of molecular genetics (DNA fingerprinting technology) are powerful tool that enables discovering the genetic relationships among grape cultivars grown in different geographic areas and tracing back cultivars disseminated by ancient colonizers to the place of origin. It is broadly accepted hypothesis that “ famous Greek middle-age wine called Malmsey” (sweet white wine, with pronounced aroma and alcohol content) was massively exported from Peloponnesus by Venetians in north Europe during the middle age, and that it was distributed in Europe under the name “ Malvasia” . It is the fact that today there are more then 40 grape cultivars that carry the name (or part of the name) “ Malvasia” which are grown in different Mediterranean countries (Croatia, Italy, Portugal, Spain) but not in Greece. In Croatia, there are two “ Malvasia” cultivars: (1) “ Malvasia Dubrovacka” , grown for centuries in the vicinity of Dubrovnik city, and (2) “ Malvazija Istarska” , grown on the peninsula Istria. Malvazija Istarska is a white variety that gives high quality wines (but generally not sweet ones) with neither not pronounced aroma nor high alcohol content. Nevertheless, with more than 10 millions vines grown in Istria it is probably among most spread Malvasia varieties in Europe. Cultivar Malvasia Dubrovacka has very small population and it is grown on very restricted area. However, there are several written documents testifying its cultivation before 14th century. It can give sweet aromatic wines of very high alcohol content. Our very recent research confirmed that Malvasia Dubrovacka has the same genetic profile as Malvasia delle Lipari, Malvasia di Sardegna, Greco di Gerace (Italy), Malvasia de Sitges (Spain) and Malvasia de Lanzarote (Canary Islands, Spain). This means all these varieties are descents of the same original vine, i.e. the same variety. This is the first scientific evidence of one Malvasia cultivar (with different local names) being grown in several different countries. We are still looking for its synonym in the Greece.

Malvasia; ampelography; SSR; synonyms

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