Abstract
Several types of grape varieties have been traditionally considered under the generic term of Malvasia, often with a complementing name related to geographic origin. We examined 56 Malvasia accessions presently maintained and 14 accessions introduced previously but no longer maintained at Domaine de Vassal (INRA) grape collection. Accessions were analyzed by ampelography and/or with 20 SSR (simple sequence repeat) markers, allowing us to individualize 49 varieties and propose a list of synonyms for 37 varieties. Eight accessions are unique to the collection and no other name can be proposed. Parentage analysis clarified the origin of 10 varieties. Data analysis showed that the use of Malvasia or related names is not justified for 29 varieties. Twenty other varieties could rightly be considered as Malvasia, particularly when no other name or synonym is known, even if this generic term may be a source of confusion. Within Malvasia varieties, eight have some muscat or aromatic flavor and the majority have white berries.
In the wine industry, cultivar name is closely linked with the quality and the reputation of a wine. In this context, the designation Malvasia is of interest because of its history and complexity. The term comes from Monembasia, a Greek locality (Krimbas 1947, Dion 1959, Logothetis 1982) on the east coast of Peloponnese, meaning “one entry” or “one way to reach the town.” Monembasia has been translated into Malvasia (Italian, Spanish, and Portuguese), Malvesia (Catalan), Malvasier (German), Malmsey (English), and Malvoisie (French) (Galet 2000, Favà i Agud 2001). In all Latin languages these names are feminine, a rarity among French grape variety names.
In France, the term Malvoisie first appeared during the 13th century as a name for wines from Greece and Crete (Dion 1959), and it was later noted by François Rabelais in 1564 (Dion 1959) and Olivier de Serres in 1600 (Rézeau 1997) to designate varieties. Malvoisie has since been used sporadically as a synonym for cultivars, such as Pi-not gris (Artozoul et al. 1960), but today the official French catalog of authorized grapevine names does not contain Malvoisie.
Several Mediterranean countries produce Malvasia wines, including Spain, Italy, Croatia, and Greece. Because of the fame associated with the name Malvasia, it has been used for several kinds of varieties in various era and locations (Odart 1859, Mas and Pulliat 1874ndash;1879, Viala and Vermorel 1902–1910). Malvasia also refers to a special taste like sweetness, muscat, or aromatic flavor, and occasionally to a slight bitterness (Fregoni 2000). These various names for Malvasia also incorporate a variable range of berry color and shape, the genetic diversity of which as been recognized (Borrego et al. 2002, Fanizza et al. 2003). This study analyzes and characterizes accessions related to the Malvasia name that are held in the INRA repository of Domaine de Vassal (Hérault, France) in order to clarify this grouping of varieties and define its limits.
Materials and Methods
Plant material.
Accessions in the Domaine de Vassal grape germplasm repository are designated by an accession name, which is the name under which it entered the collection, and a prime variety name, which is based on ampelographic and bibliographic information. Fifty-six accessions linked to the name Malvasia are maintained in the repository and 14 other previously introduced accessions are no longer preserved (Table 1⇓). These 70 accessions were evaluated and their morphological and molecular features were compared with the rest of the collection (2305 genotypes). The 70 accessions were from Portugal (17), Italy (17), France (10), Spain (5), Croatia (3), Germany (2), Australia (2), Greece (1), and Argentina (1). The origin of 12 other accessions could not be determined.
Identification.
This study used live and herbarium accessions from the Vassal collection, which were characterized based on the ampelographic descriptors from IPGRI, UPOV, OIV (IPGRI 1997) with modifications from the European network for grapevine genetic resources (GENRES 1997–2002). These accessions were further characterized by examining their DNA at 20 SSR loci, which were chosen for their quality and because they are distributed across the 19 grape chromosomes (Doligez et al. 2006): VVMD5, VVMD7, VVMD21, VVMD24, VVMD25, VVMD27, VVMD28, VVMD32 (Bowers et al. 1996, 1999); VVS2 (Thomas and Scott 1993); and VMC1b11, VMC4f3, VVIB01, VVIH54, VVIN16, VVIN73, VVIP31, VVIP60, VVIQ52, VVIV37, VVIV67 (Adam-Blondon et al. 2004). They were analyzed on an automated ABI Prism 3100 Genetic Analyzer (Applied Biosystems, Foster City, CA) with referencing based on four loci (VVMD5, VVMD7, VVMD27, and VVS2) belonging to the standard set of markers defined by This et al. (2004). DNA profiles of the varieties (see supplementary data: http://www.montpellier.inra.fr/vassal/ressources/Malvoisie_Complementary_data.pdf) were compared to 2305 distinct genotypes of Vitis vinifera L. subsp. sativa held in the repository. Among the 70 accessions, 21 had previously been identified (Truel 1985, 1986), 10 were identified by molecular markers, and 39 were identified by both methods. These efforts led to the assignment of a prime variety name and the identification of synonyms for each accession as reported in Table 1⇑.
Parentage studies.
Parentage analysis of Malvasia cultivars was carried out using FaMoz software (Gerber et al. 2003), based on limit of detection (LOD) scores and significant thresholds (Gerber et al. 2000) with modifications for grapevine (Di Vecchi Staraz et al. 2006, unpublished data). The existence of possible parents was evaluated among the 2305 distinct genotypes in the collection previously characterized with the same set of 20 SSR markers.
Diversity analysis.
After a set of distinct Malvasia varieties was selected, their genetic diversity was analyzed; a dendrogram was built using DARwin 4.0 software (Perrier et al. 1999) and applying the weighted neighbor-joining method to the dissimilarities matrix based on 51 cultivars and 18 SSR markers. Two loci (VMC4f3 and VVMD28) were discarded from the analysis because of missing data not managed by the software.
Results and Discussion
In Italy, Spain, and Portugal, the use of Malvasia is far more frequent than Malvoisie, Malvezija, Malvaiser, or Monemvassia. Six categories of Malvasia accessions were observed in the Domaine de Vassal collection: (1) 10 accessions that used the generic name Malvasia or its equivalent in the different languages; (2) 17 accessions that used Malvasia with an adjective (e.g., Malvasia verde); (3) 31 accessions that combined Malvasia with the name of another location, usually where the variety is cultivated (e.g., Malvasia istriana); (4) eight accessions that combined Malvasia with an adjective and the name of a location (e.g., Malvoisie rose du Pô); (5) two accessions that used the name Malvasia with an individual (e.g., Malvasia Rasteiro); and (6) two accessions that combined variety names (e.g., Malvasia Vermentino).
Identification of the 70 accessions by ampelography and DNA analysis concluded that there were 49 distinct varieties (Table 1⇑). Further study revealed that 37 of the 49 had 120 synonyms from 18 countries. However, in most cases there were only one or two synonyms (e.g., Malvasia istriana) and only three varieties had more than 10 synonyms. Results indicated that the use of Malvasia or related names is not justified for 29 varieties, especially when this designation is a synonym of a well-known variety with an original prime name (e.g., Malvoisie verte petite = Riesling italico). In such cases the prime name must be used.
The designations related to Malvasia were conserved as prime names for only 20 varieties, in those cases in which no other synonym was known and even if the use of this generic term was confusing and not ideal. These 20 varieties can be grouped in two categories. The first category consists of 12 varieties that correctly use Malvasia with a complementing term or phrase, such as Malvasia di Candia aromatica. The second category consists of eight varieties that appear to be unique and their accession name has been adopted as the default variety name: Malvasia bianca, Malvasia candida, Malvasia de Colares, Malvasia di Candia fausse, Malvasia roja, Malvoisie de Lasseraz, Malvoisie de Madera, and Malvoisie de Tarragon.
Parentage analysis of the 49 varieties with 20 SSR loci (see supplementary data) revealed the putative parents of 10 varieties (Table 2⇓). Two of those varieties, Schiras Dr. Houbdine and Malvasia-Moscatel Fonte Grande, were obtained in Portugal (by Dr. Soares Franco), but have unknown pedigrees. The possible parents were evaluated based on historical data and their traditional locations and no inconsistencies were detected. Two varieties, Gibi and Muscat d’Alexandrie, were involved in several parentages, the latter particularly interesting because it highlights the complex relationships that may exist between the muscat group and the Malvasia varieties. Parentage analysis also identified the parents of Malvasia de Colares and Malvasia di Candia fausse, two varieties that were judged to be unique. Given that their origin is now determined, their original prime names should be used in their countries of origin. The parentage of three other varieties was also interesting. Malvasia del Lazio has the same parentage as Muscat de Hambourg (Crespan 2003). The Croatian cultivar Plavina crna appears to be a seedling of Primitivo and Verdeca, a white variety grown in southern Italy (Calo et al. 2001), which confirms the historical link between Croatia and Italy. It was also confirmed that Argentinean variety Torrontès riojano originated from a cross between Mission, an older variety widely found in America, and Muscat d’Alexandrie, as previously noted by Agüero et al. (2003).
Genetic relationships among varieties of the Malvasia group were also examined. Forty-nine distinct Malvasia varieties and Gibi and Muscat d’Alexandrie (which were often indicated as parents in the parentage analysis) were evaluated. A dendrogram was constructed with two main divisions (Figure 1⇓): three groups were identified (A, B, C) in the upper division and one large and relatively loose group (D) was identified in the lower division.
Group A clusters the variety Muscat d’Alexandrie with several Malvasia. Most of these have a muscat or aromatic flavor, and only two have a neutral aroma based on observations at Domaine de Vassal (Malvasia di Casorzo and Malvasia di Schierano); however, others have described these varieties as aromatic or slightly aromatic (Dalmasso et al. 1964, Calo et al. 2001). Group A is the only group to show a close genetic relationship between the muscat and Malvasia varieties. Group B clusters varieties from Central Europe and the Balkans that do not have the Malvasia prime name. Four Malvasia comprise group C, which contains varieties from the Italian peninsula, and only Malvasia di Sardegna has an aromatic flavor. Group D is characterized by the Iberian origin of its varieties; only one, Malvasia fina from Portugal, can be rightly designated as Malvasia. The other Malvasia, Malvasia roja, is from Spain, but it was not possible to positively identify this variety with any other one in the Domaine de Vassal collection. All other varieties in group D have an original prime name different from Malvasia (Table 1⇑), including Gibi, which is involved in some Malvasia parentage. This white and female cultivar was grown in North Africa and Spain in the past.
Varieties not belonging to the four groups are located mainly in the lower left part of the tree, but do not represent a set consistent with geographical origin or morphological traits. The four Malvasia situated in this part are poorly documented at best (noted * in Figure 1⇑) and their designation remains questionable.
It is remarkable that all but one of the varieties for which the designation of Malvasia is acceptable are located in the upper part of the dendrogram (Malvasia fina, from Portugal, is the exception). In the lower part, there are only five Malvasia (Malvasia candida, Malvasia de Colares, Malvasia roja, Malvoisie de Lasseraz, and Malvoisie de Madera), but these are poorly documented accessions for which references are missing; consequently, it was impossible to decide on the relevancy of the Malvasia name. Finally, the genetic structuring of the 49 distinct varieties analyzed here can be mainly explained by their geographical origin and flavor characteristics.
Conclusion
One question remains: what is a Malvasia variety? Results here do not underline a clear common denominator among all the Malvasia maintained in the Domaine de Vassal repository. Genetic analysis and clustering clearly show more than one group of Malvasia varieties. Three countries are primarily involved in the presumed geographical origin of the 49 distinct cultivars analyzed: Italy (13 varieties), Portugal (10), and Spain (7). In addition to a heterogeneous genetic background, these varieties are also morphologically heterogeneous (data not shown). From a general ampelographic point of view, there is no morphological consistency among these varieties. A majority of Malvasia varieties are white (73%) but there are also black, rose, and gray. There is no specificity phenology or sugar content, and the proportion of the varieties with round and elliptic shape of the berries is balanced. Eight Malvasia varieties have muscat or aromatic flavor, but most do not. Thus, cultivars named Malvasia are a complex group that includes muscat, aromatic, and neutral varieties and that lacks a genetic or morphological phenotypic basis. The justification for the use of Malvasia as the name of a grape variety is not directly based on a special trait or origin, but takes into consideration historical and sociological factors.
- Received February 2006.
- Revision received July 2006.
- Revision received August 2006.
- Copyright © 2007 by the American Society for Enology and Viticulture