Vitner's delight

Carole Meredith is a grape geneticist in the world of wine science. She works at the University of California at Davis, an institution noted for its excellence in agricultural science. Along with researchers from France, in 1999 Meredith found that the celebrated Chardonnay grape has modest beginnings of roughly 1,700 years ago.

The DNA technology for tracing human ancestry and our historical patterns of divergence is now well established. As all living things share the same basic DNA, Meredith used a similar technology developed for animals and human beings to confirm that Chardonnay is the offspring of one of the Pinot family of grapes believed to have originated in Burgundy 300 AD.

Meredith also found traces of a more obscure grape in Chardonnay’s ancestral pedigree. The Romans brought a variety called Gouais Blanc from Croatia and to France during the 3rd century. It is a more obscure grape variety and likely spread prolifically on the Burgundy plains. A hybrid of Pinot and Gouais Blanc emerged during the Middle Ages.

Charlemagne had, in the year 775, granted land to the Abbey of Saulieu, which today is the place where the Chardonnay producing Corton-Charlemagne is located. Charlemagne asked for white grapes to be planted there, but it is not clear whether they were Chardonnay. The name itself derives from the village Chardonais in the region of Maconnais.

The Pinot varieties became famous by way of Pinot Noir, known historically as Noirien. Burgundy’s reds and those especially from Beaune came to glory during the time when the Dukes of Valois reigned between 1363 and 1477 The Pinot grape was the basis for red Burgundy. Less prized was the white Pinot Gris, which was known as Fromenteau and Beurot.

The earliest known reference to Chardonnay can be found in the writings of Cisterian monks in the year 1330. These monks were responsible for the first mass production and distribution of the wine. The Cisterians planted the first growths in their specially organised vineyards. They were the first innovators in the art of great wine-making.

As the grape-growing communities know, the Chardonnay comes from a vigorous vine and are tightly packed bunches of medium size. They grapes are quite small. They are a bright golden colour when ripe. Having a thin skin, Chardonnay is fragile. Great care has to be taken during the harvesting season therefore, as rough treatment can easily ruin them.

Though the taste of Chardonnay is distinctive and unique, there is considerable variation in its complexity. This is because the grape is very sensitive to the environment in which it is grown. Chardonnay lovers would know that the varieties grown in warmer climates tend to taste like honeyed butter and those grown in the colder ones have a more fruity flavour.

This wine is always fermented in oak barrels, from which derives its very distinct flavour. The mass produced varieties more recently are produced in great steel tanks. Oak chips are then added during fermentation. The result is an easily discernible inferior wine, bereft of the smooth and unmistakeable fragrant complexity of the real thing.

Some of the best Champagnes are made of entirely of Chardonnay grapes. Champagne typically is a blend of two or three grape varieties, where the Chardonnay brings the floral, citrus and mineral aromas and flavours. Blanc de Blanc made by Krug or Charles Heidsieck consist of the Chardonnay grape alone, tasting of citrus, coffee, toffee and toast when mature.

By acreage of vines, the largest Chardonnay growing areas in the world are California (90,000 acres), Australia (79,500), Burgundy (36,500) and Champagne (23,500). The bulk of the world’s Chardonnay comes from these areas, including some exceptional wines. South Africa is a smaller player, with Chile, Argentina, Italy, New Zeland, Oregon and Washington. Recommended wines from South Africa include the fine Ataraxia Mountain, Neil Ellis, Glen Carlou, Hamilton Russell and Rustenburg.

It is fascinating how much DNA analysis one tell one about the history of plants, fruits and other organisms. Studies of the potato, olive, sugar and codfish have for example contributed to the social histories of the Irish, the southern Mediterranean and North African, Caribbean and north-east American peoples.

DNA analysis typically reveals when hybrids appeared, which varieties contributed to the mix, where they were cultivated and by association, who the farmers were. Genetics are powerful tools to write - and rewrite - the histories of agriculture.