The history of a public grapevine cultivar collection can be traced back to Prof. A.I. Perold, the well-known “father” of Pinotage, who wore many different hats during his career as one of the pioneers in modernising the South African grape industry. He was appointed to head a government viticultural research station on Bellevue, a small farm in Paarl, in 1910 after one of his extensive study trips to Europe.1 Perold established a wine and table grape collection on Bellevue and imported many cultivars to extend this collection. One of these is Barlinka, which, for a long time, was a stalwart of the table grape industry. It was discovered in Algeria and imported by Perold in 1910.2 Over the years this collection was extended under curatorship of different government institutions and is currently housed at the ARC Nietvoorbij farm in Stellenbosch.3 This collection includes not only wine, table and raisin grape cultivars, but also rootstocks and some other Vitis species and other members of the Vitaceae family.
The current extent of the genebank
Around 950 wine, table, and raisin grape cultivars are maintained in field blocks. This number includes cultivars imported under different names and often from different sources, but are the same cultivar (synonyms). For example, Blaufränkisch was also imported as Blauer Limberger and Limberger, and Sangiovese was also imported as Brunello. The number of scion accessions, though, increases to nearly 1 280, because various cultivar clones are included. For example, 23 Cabernet Sauvignon and 14 Sauvignon Blanc clones are in the genebank. Rootstock accessions are 209.
Some rarities and curiosities
Some quite unique cultivars originated in South Africa through natural mutations, for example, Cinsaut Gris and Cinsaut Blanc, the colour variants of Cinsaut.4 Another interesting local colour mutation is Sémillon Rosé (or also called Sémillon Gris), which appeared in Sémillon Blanc vineyards. Sémillon (known then as “Groendruif”) was widely grown, and Prof. Orffer mentioned that 93,7% of plantings were Sémillon in 1822.5 The “rouge” variant was common in Sémillon vineyards, and Perold mentioned the colour variant “Rooi Groendruif” in his 1926 publication.2
FIGURE 1. Mutations that occurred spontaneously in South Africa. Cinsaut Gris, Cinsaut Blanc, Sémillon Gris (all colour mutations) and “Tamatie Frans” (a Palomino berry shape mutation).
Another interesting colour mutation is the striped berries of Bonnet de Retord (lighter coloured stripes running from style to pedicel ends of the berry). It is an old black table grape that was known locally as “gestreepte” (striped) berry grape, before Perold identified it correctly. Berry colour mutations are not uncommon in grapevine, but other traits may also be altered, an example of which is the flat, tomato (or pumpkin) berry of “Tamatie Fransdruif” a berry shape mutation of Palomino that is unknown elsewhere. Leaf mutations are also known and many will be familiar with Pinot Meunier, a Pinot Noir mutation with hairy leaves, but probably will not know Chasselas Cioutat, the parsley-leaved grape which is a Chasselas Blanc mutation and planted as a curiosity.
FIGURE 2. More examples of mutations. Bonnet de Retord (the “striped berry” grape) and Chasselas Cioutat, a leaf shape mutation of Chasselas Blanc.
The genebank collection is also home to unique accessions from local breeding programs, like the cultivars and rootstocks from Orffer’s crosses, which include wine grape cultivars like Chenel, Therona, Nouvelle and Weldra and the US 8-7 rootstock. There are also two wine grape cultivars (Colomino and Follet) from crosses made by P.A.L. Steyn, better known as a deciduous fruit breeder.
Research and other activities
Over the past few years, accessions in the grape genebank have been DNA fingerprinted and it proved to be a valuable resource to correctly identify some accessions, confirm synonyms (Table 1) or to correct parentages. Examples of misnomers or typing mistakes are two accessions with denominations unknown elsewhere, namely Marlao Seedless and Kostel, correctly identified using DNA fingerprints as Marroo Seedless and Kristal, respectively. Verified and published parentages are also useful to identify accessions correctly. For example, we have a cultivar, Jantar, but there are two cultivars, both named Jantar, one from Bulgaria and the other from Slovenia, and to confuse it even more, there is also a Yantar from Ukraine. All three are white cultivars and have different parentages. With DNA fingerprints we could identify that the Jantar in the ARC collection is the Bulgarian cultivar by confirming the parentage of Queen of the Vineyard and Waltham Cross (Table 2). The fingerprint dataset will in near future be extended to include all markers in the standard set recommended for cultivar identification by the OIV. This will improve comparison with international datasets to identify unknown or wrongly named accessions.
Apart from supplying propagation and other material, genebank activities include collection of phenological data. Leaf fall, bud break and flowering dates are collected for 1 278 scion accessions. Wine is made from selected cultivars, and lately, we have been focusing on disease-resistant cultivars, including cultivars recently imported from Germany. Since many of the new, disease-tolerant cultivars are from breeding programs situated in cooler climates, the adaptability of these cultivars to South African climate conditions needs to be evaluated.
The genebank is also a valuable resource for the table and wine grape breeding programs of the ARC. Pollen is collected and crosses made in the field blocks.
The genebank accessions are utilised by the Directorate of Plant Genetic Resources (DALRRD) to collect ampelographic data for cultivar descriptions and authenticity. These reference cultivars are also used for comparison (DUS examination) when new applications for Variety Listing and/or Plant Breeders’ Rights are filed.
Recently, plant material has been supplied to Plant Improvement Organisations and researchers at ARC and Stellenbosch University. Plant material included dormant wood that was supplied for industry cultivar evaluation, rootstock research and grafting in a demonstration/training vineyard at Stellenbosch University. Researchers also collected fruit (mostly table grapes) and flowers for various projects.
Access to accessions in the genebank
The genebanks maintained at various ARC institutes have been designated as public good/national assets and thus many of the accessions are available to the grape industry for research, evaluation and potentially commercial production. Not all accessions are freely available, as there may be non-propagation agreements or Plant Breeders’ Rights restrictions in place. Currently, DALRRD is the biggest funder, but all three grape industries (wine, table and raisin grapes) contribute financially to the maintenance of the genebank vineyards.
A final word
The genebank is a valuable resource, and the contributions of lesser-known cultivars may become important in the future, especially given current climate change tendencies and a drive towards more environmentally friendly practices that may favour planting more disease-tolerant cultivars.
References
- Perold, Abraham Izak. Online Biography. S2A3 Biographical Database of Southern African Science. https://www.s2a3.org.za/bio/Biograph_final.php?serial=2172 (accessed 30 May 2024).
- Perold, A.I., 1926. Handboek oor Wynbou. Pro Ecclesia-Drukkery. 611 pages.
- Deist, J., 1997. LNR Nietvoorbij Instituut vir Wingerd- en Wynkunde. ’n Tegnologiese Perspektief na 40 Jaar. ISBN 1-86849-063-7. Available from ARC Infruitec-Nietvoorbij library, Private Bag X5026, 7599 Stellenbosch.
- De Villiers, F.S., 1987. Cinsaut. Boerdery in S.A. Wingerdbou en Wynkunde B8.21/1987. Available from ARC Infruitec-Nietvoorbij library, Private Bag X5026, 7599 Stellenbosch.
- Orffer, C.J. (ed), 1979. Wine Grape Cultivars in South Africa. Human & Rousseau (Pty.) Ltd. 111 pages.
For more information, contact Phyllis Burger at burgerp@arc.agric.za.
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