The reddish grape from Kastela

Humanity has had a love affair with the grape for a very long time. Very long. As with all cultivated crops, grapes were once only found in the wild. Unlike most cultivated crops there are still plenty of examples of wild grapes. There may be some right outside your window as you read this.

In scientific parlance grapes are known as the genus Vitis. Most wine is made from the species Vitis vinefera. But there probably more than 50 other species though, most of them in North America.

A few of the names would be familiar to those who have studied wine. Names like Vitis cinerea, Vitis labrusca, Vitis riparia and Vitis rupestris. Rupestris in particular is known for its roll in creating phylloxera-resistant rootstocks.

While a few species have been crossed with vinefera, especially in the United States, the results have rarely been as successful as vinefera on its own in an appropriate climate.

The number of vinefera varieties is staggering. It is often estimated to be as many as 10,000 distinctly different types of wine grapes.

So how did there end up being so many different varieties? In no small part do to the deliberate processes of some person or another, but not always.

The "Classic" grape varieties are those with names like Cabernet Sauvignon, Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc and the Pinots (Pinot Noir, Pinot Gris and Pinot Blanc are actually just color variations of the same grape variety).

They are classic not just because you may have heard of them, but because their origins were lost in the haze of antiquity.

Now a days we use cuttings of vines, clones that are identical to their parent, a process that goes back hundreds of years. Before that, grapes were grown from seed.

The seed or a grape may be purely from a single variety, or it may be the result of cross pollination. As the chance crossing happened, new varieties were created and when they were given the chance to prove themselves, these varieties were then recognized and utilized.

Chardonnay was such an accident, having Pinot as one of its relatives and a now all but forgotten Gouais Blanc. Cabernet Sauvignon turns out to be a cross between Sauvignon Blanc and Cabernet Franc.

How do we know the progenitor of grapes who are so old? By using DNA fingerprinting techniques.

Carole Meredith is a Professor of Viticulture and Enology, University of California, Davis. She is widely recognized for her work with proving the origin of grape varieties using DNA.

It was Dr. Meredith who spurred the research that would find the origin of one of my favorite grapes, the Zinfandel.

Incredibly important in California, it seemed odd that this grape did not exist anywhere else, at least by that name.

In the 70s a connection to the Italian Primitivo was found, but it became clear that this grape had little history in Italy, and so was not the origin of Zin.

Miljenko (Mike) Grgich of the winery that bears his name, was convinced that Zinfandel hailed from Croatia, his homeland.

It turned out he was right.

It took years and an incredible amount of detective work before the origin of Zinfandel was discovered.

A few vines still exist in one single vineyard in Croatia. These may have been lost forever except for the diligent effort of a few hearty researchers.

The Croation, and therefore original name for Zinfandel is Crljenak Kastelanski, which means “reddish grape from Kastela,” a town near where the vines where located.

You can read more about this exciting detective mystery from Dr. Meredith's original report.

In recognition of the three faces of Zinfandel, there is something to be said for calling it by its new technical name ZPC - Zinfandel, Primitivo, Crljenak Kastelanski.

I will probably still call it my favorite wine, but it is fun to know where it, and all the other grape varieties came from.