Grapevine cultivation

The grapevine requires particular climatic conditions and, for this reason, grapes can be cultivated only in the temperate zones of the two hemispheres. These zones lie between 50° and 30° of north latitude and from 30° to 40° of south latitude (Fig. 2.1). 

Baciheri, R., Lacombe, T, Le Cunff, L., Di Vecchi-Staraz, M., Laucou, V., Genna, B., Peros, J.P., This, P, Boursiquot, J.M., 2013. Genetic structure in cultivated grapevines is linked to geography and human selection. BMC Plant Biol. 13, 25. 

In former times, no quarantine or border inhibited the spread of new grapevine cultivars. The exchange of material could easily happen. In Mid Europe, cultivars from far away had the chance to become established, and in some cases, they are still cultivated today. Prominent imports done centuries ago are the Pinot family (Jahnke et al., 2011) or Portugieser (Regner et al., 1999). The most important argument to keep a... 

Battilana, J., Lorenzi, S., Moreira, F.M., Moreno-Sanz, R, Failla, O., Emanuelli, F., Grando, M.S., 2013. Linkage mapping and molecular diversity at the flower sex locus in wild and cultivated grapevine reveal a prominent SSR haplotype in hermaphrodite plants. Mol. Biotechnol. 54, 1031-1037. http //dx.doi.org/10.1007/sl2033-013-9657-5. 

In the 1400s, grapevine (E vinifera) crops were introduced in the Canary and Madeira Islands and from there arrived to South Africa, Austraha and South America. During the eighteenth century, the culture was introduced in North America via California. In contrast, hybrids between American species, such as Vitis labrusca and Yitis bourquina crossed to V. vinifera, started to be cultivated in the 1800s and played an important role in the establishment of viticulture in America (Alleweldt et al, 1990 Hedrick, 1908,1919). 

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