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Sunday, December 1, 2013

Alicante Bouschet Parentage

Earlier, I blogged about Teinturier Grape Varieties as being a type of grape that has red colored flesh. Alicante bouschet is a Vitis vinifera and as such, is one of the grape varieties sanctioned by the French authorities for the production of wine. Today, I'm chasing down the genetic parentage of Alicante bouschet because I think it is quite interesting that there are so many red skinned grapes with white flesh i.e. Cabernet sauvignon, Cabernet franc, Pinot noir, Merlot, etc. so where did the red flesh in Alicante bouschet come from?
I found an article in the American Journal of Enology and Viticulture called Garnacha and Garnacha Tintorera: Genetic Relationships and the Origin of Teinturier Varieties Cultivated in Spain. The researchers, lead by José Miguel Martínez-Zapater traced the parentage of the teinturier varieties using amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP) and microsatellite markers on 65 samples. The researchers discovered the relationship between the 65 samples and provided this graphic representation:1
Many of the teinturier varieties can be traced back to the crosses performed in the nineteenth century by Louis and Henri Bouschet. Louis Bouschet used Teinturier as one of the parents, a red-fleshed French variety possibly originating from the region of Orléans in northern France as well as Aramon noir to produce Petit Bouschet. Louis' son, Henri crossed Grenache with Petit Bouschet to create one of the many versions of Alicante Henri Bouschet or Alicante Bouschet no. 1, 2, 5, 6, 7, 12, and 13.2 In their book, Wine Grapes, Robinson, Harding and Vouillamoz mention that there is a relationship between Teinturier and Savagnin, but both are derived from wild grapevines.
References:
1. José Antonio Cabezas, María Teresa Cervera, Rosa Arroyo-García, Javier Ibáñez, Inmaculada Rodríguez-Torres, Joaquín Borrego, Félix Cabello, and José Miguel Martínez-Zapater Garnacha and Garnacha Tintorera: Genetic Relationships and the Origin of Teinturier Varieties Cultivated in Spain, Am. J. Enol. Vitic., 2003, 54:237-245.
2. J. Robinson, J. Harding and J. Vouillamoz, Wine Grapes - A complete guide to 1,368 vine varieties, including their origins and flavours, pg 32-34 and 1040-1041, Allen Lane 2012 ISBN 978-1-846-14446-2.

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