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.

America the Beautiful Wine Drinkers

The Fourth of July. Founding Fathers, the Birth of a Nation. A lot has changed in the last 200 years, and not only politically. Pretty much everything about modern wine was introduced in these intervening centuries.

The Founding Fathers were wine fans. Benjamin Franklin told us "wine is constant proof that God loves us and loves to see us happy. " Jefferson warned "no nation is drunken where wine is cheap; and none sober, where the dearness of wine substitutes ardent spirits as the common beverage."

Wine was pretty important way back then, but it had a bit of a falling out. Beer became the beverage of choice for most Americans, because it was cheap and easy to make. But wine held on.

The European wave of immigration brought more wine lovers to our shores. These were not collectors like Jefferson, they were wine drinkers. They grew up with a bit of wine at every evening meal, and they brought the habit with them.

They settled around the country, trying to find the ideal blend of climate for the grapes, and opportunity for their wallets. Those that made it as far west as California found that making wine could be profitable.

Others tried, too often in vain, to make a go of it further east. The sunshine and fertile valleys of California won out, and for decades it was pretty much the only commercially viable location for making wine.

We all know that has changed. The Pacific Northwest has a thriving wine industry, as does New York State. Other States are catching on as they work out the vagaries of grape growing and wine production, suited to their climates.

And yet, California still shines both in the market, and in the minds of millions of wine drinkers.

To point out the technological advances in wine for the last 200 years would take much more than the breadth of this blog. Suffice it to say that only the most rudimentary aspects of wine making remain the same.

The past few decades have seen the most change. Not only in technology, or rising viticultural areas, but in the most fundamental of ways. Americans are drinking more wine.

A lot more wine. In fact our consumption is growing so steadily, that in a few years the US will be the largest consumer of wine.

This has world wide implications. As consumers Americans are like no others in the world. We have plenty of disposable income, and we vote with our wallets. Plenty of fine consumer products have failed in the US simply because we have not taken to them for one reason or another.

For each of these there are items whose success defies explanation.

Our taste in wine is changing the face of wine around the world. Our love of highly alcoholic wines in particular is being felt in the industry. As we grow to the largest consumer base in the world, more and more producers will cater to our taste. This is the invisible hand of the market at work.

So what is the down side? After all we are increasingly flooded by wines that are to our taste. But what if our tastes change? What if we grow tired of all wines tasting the same?

The joy of wine is in great part due to its incredible diversity. A world where all the wines are the same threatens this diversity. And given the approaching holiday it is important to remember that freedom of choice is one of our hallmark tenets.

So do your part, enjoy some diversity. Look around at the melting pot that is the US and celebrate this 4th of July with wines of the world.