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French wine scientists create 'supergrapes' that do not require pesticides
French wine scientists have come up with four revolutionary supergrape varieties they say are impervious to rot and thus require almost no pesticides.
At first glance, the red and white grapes growing at the National Institue of Agronomical Research (Inra) in Colmar, eastern France, look like just any other you might find in this part of the world.
Yet these are a very different, revolutionary breed of grape grown in the laboratory under a programme called “Resdur."
The aim is to be “durably resistant” to fungal attack by winemakers’ two sworn enemies: downy and powdery mildew.
In recent months, Inra scientists received state authorisation to grow four varieties of resistant grape called Araban, Floreal, Voltis and Vidoc which will lead to wine bottled by 2020.
First attempts to create rot-resistance grapes began in the 1970s when one resistant gene was singled out, but over the last 15 years, Inra has pinpointed three more by crossing European grapes with American and Asian vines.
Didier Merdinoglu, the “father” of the Inra programme insisted that the grapes enabled winemakers to reduce the use of pesticides by 80-90 per cent.
“We are talking about dropping from an average of 15 treatments (for fungal disease) per year to one or two, above all to kill off other diseases and parasites,” he said.
Given that 20 per cent of pesticides used in France are sprayed onto vines, even though they only cover three per cent of its crops, researchers insist the breakthrough could be a godsend for the environment and wine growers’ wallets.
France is under intense pressure to reduce pesticides following a string of cancer cases among vinters and a recent scandal in which pupils at a school near a vineyard were sprayed with chemicals, leading to several falling ill.
Yet some winemakers warn the lab-grown grape varieties could kill off centuries of painstaking grape growing traditions melding European grapes with local “terroir”, or soil, by replacing them with cheap, robust ones that lack the taste and quality of existing local varietals.
Thomas Dormegnies, wine maker, researcher and taster from Vendée, western France, said: “Grape varieties in Europe have been developed by monks over centuries to suit the local soil. That is a wonderful heritage.”
“This is like crossing a monkey with and a man: it may be technically possible but it goes against nature,” he said.
He added: “Mildew can be very well managed in organic or biodynamic wine growing via sulphur or essential oils.”
The result of flooding the market with cheap, robust grapes risked a “race to the bottom towards industrial winemaking” seeking to rival cheap plonk from Spain.
“But the French can’t compete with their low production costs, sunny conditions and slacker environmental rules,” he said.
As for the taste, he said he had tried one sample and was underwhelmed. Tasting notes from specialists at Vitisphère.com, were polite but hardly enthusiastic, noting the wine’s “discreet nose”, “very tannic streak” and likening it to an unrefined sauvignon blanc from the deep South.
Jacques Frélin, vice president France Vin Bio told NouvelObs magazine: “It’s obvious that a hybrid grape variety will produce a wine with less personality.”
The researchers countered that every effort was being made to produce high-quality grapes, saying: “We tested and got rid of all varieties that showed excessive acidity and undesirable aromas.”
Laurent Audeguin of the French Institute of Vine and Wine said it was far too early to judge what they would taste like.
“We’ll see in which vineyards these varieties adapt the best and give the best results. It takes decades to assess a grape variety’s true worth,” he said.