• ampelografia
• biodiversità
• fisiologia
• sylvestris
• viticoltura

The wild grapevine, Vitis vinifera L. subsp. sylvestris (Gmelin) Hegi, is a very ancient plant. For this reason, its presence in a determined area is symbol of a millennial tradition of culture of grapevine. Here is why in the actual conception of the wine as expression of a territory, the autochthonous or "local" vines constitute an element of strong identity. They are the custodians and the vehicle of a local authentic cultural property so it is very important safeguard of the autochthonous vines and their biodiversity. The preservation of wild populations of V. vinifera L. subsp. sylvestris is essential for the maintenance of genetic variability and to resist at the genetic erosion. The intensive cultivation of the grapevine in extensive areas using only a few varieties and clones, has drastically decreased genetic variability and has increased the risk of an epidemic disease. The future of Vitis vinifera L. subsp. sylvestris represents a major stake in biodiversity conservation. Italy, among the other European wine countries, is one of the most rich of diversification in cultivar varieties and this is a strong advantage for the typical production of both grapevine and wine. Moreover, some area in our country, such as Sardinia and Tuscany, are very rich of local wild vines. This last represents an exaltation of biodiversity, not only as a biological difference, but also as a cultural product of the population’s history. Aware about the scientific importance of these plants, this work was initiated for the safeguard and the ampelographyc, molecular, pathological and phenological study of wild vines. More than one hundred and forty accessions of Vitis vinifera L. subsp. sylvestris were recovered, on several sites of the Tuscany “Maremma” and classified, of which 76 were planted in a collection vineyard and trained to a special trellis system (Totem) to be observed in the same environmental conditions. Female plants having mainly berries of black colour were prevalent respect to male vines. The characterization consisted on: polymorphism of microsatellites loci (SSR); ampelographyc (OIV, 2009) and ampelometric (by computer assisted method “Superampelo”) assessment; pathological monitoring (9 virus tested: GFLV, ArMV, GLRaV-1,-2,-3,-7, GVA, GVB, GFkV, and fungal infection incidence of Plasmopara viticola); thermal requirement for bud breaking (in growth chamber and phenological study in situ); monitoring of technological grape ripening; micro-vinification and chemical analysis of the wines obtained; secondary metabolites, polyphenols richness and anthocyanins profiles. Data were subjected to multifactorial analysis with standardization where necessary. The nuclear microsatellite profiles showed a wide diversity between the accession tested regardless to the area of origin.
Moreover certain supposed accessions of Vitis vinifera subsp. sylvestris retrieved seem to derive from the vines already cultivated that become wild, while others accessions would be intra-specific cross-breeding sativa-sylvestris. Only 6 accessions showed mainly single virus infections, or in association. Slight differences on fungal infections susceptibility were also found between the accessions tested, while several of them were less susceptible than cv. Sangiovese. Ampelographyc traits of shoot, leaf, grape and berry and ampelometric observations allowed to distinguish the different accessions, which showed a good similarity within the same area of origin. The material retrieved, other than to have a large morphological and genetic variability, evidenced very particular anthocyanins profiles which were different from the most common grape variety cultivated in Tuscany. In addition, the accessions studied had small clusters and berries with a satisfying ripening state and a rich polyphenol content. Also the wines obtained by micro-vinification of several biotypes, subjected to chemical analysis had evidenced differences suggesting possibility of enhance. Several accessions of V. v. sylvestris are able to ripe grapes of acceptable quality, with a reduced use of pesticides. In some cases giving a wine fairly acceptable that can be improved (if not used directly) or it could help to identify varieties with different levels of diseases’s susceptibility. Lastly, the study of the main characteristics could be useful to find out some favourable traits to make a further genetic improvement of our varieties.