Archaeobotanical remains of grapesSarah Ivorra (ISEM, CNRS)
Posted on 04/06/2026 7:57:10 AM PDT by SunkenCiv
The AFP reports that a 600-year-old grape seed recovered from a medieval waste pit in northern France is genetically identical to grapes used today to make pinot noir wine. A team of researchers led by Ludovic Orlando of the French National Center for Scientific Research sequenced the genomes of 54 grape seeds dating from about 2300 B.C. to the medieval period. The oldest grapes in the study were found to have come from wild vines. The scientists determined that early farmers began using clonal propagation techniques as early as 625 to 500 B.C., when domesticated grapevines were grown in southern France. Such techniques, including rooting cuttings and grafting on root stock, allowed these farmers to produce identical copies of parent plants. Laurent Bouby of the Institute of Evolutionary Science of Montpellier said that it is not clear if the medieval grape seed in question had been eaten or used to make wine. Read the original scholarly article about this research in Nature Communications. For more on ancient winemaking, go to "French Wine, Italian Vine."
(Excerpt) Read more at archaeology.org ...
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Archaeobotanical remains of grapesSarah Ivorra (ISEM, CNRS)
“early farmers began using clonal propagation techniques as early as 625 to 500 B.C.”
Genetically engineered Frankenfood!
The rest of the Pinot Noir and Viticulture keywords, sorted:
In before certain people jump in to say any alcohol is bad and Jesus was surrounded by grape juice, not wine.
mommy when I grow up i want to dig through medieval waste pits
Sarcasm, right?
😆
One of my friends was an archeologist who was trained in the latrine pits of Philadelphia.
Channeling our leftist kook “Frankenfood” friends.
😊😂🤣
You did it perfectly.
An 80 page paper on wine making in colonial New Jersey, 1769, authored by 6th great grandfather.
https://www.iment.com/maida/familytree/antill/edwardgrapesarticle.htm
He won an award of 200 pounds for growing the first wine grapes that produced a wine that was close to European.
https://www.iment.com/maida/familytree/antill/edwardgrapearticle.htm
That’s hella dedication to the craft!
Had another colonial 7th ggrandfather, Sidney Breese, who had his wine imported from Europe in bottles embossed with his name in the glass. Would have loved finding that on ebay but undoubtedly WAAAY over my budget.
I'm a teetotaler but also a wine collector for my husband. Used to be able to do vertical sniffings, since I couldn't do tastings. Was too tempted once by a '61 Lafite Rothschild and put a drop on my tongue. It was everything they said. No matter how much water I drank or crackers I ate, I couldn't get the taste of that one drop out of my mouth.
🍇🧬
You can start by hand cultivating the flower beds in the yard. No internet until you get it done.
Back in my Wine-Drinking Days I gave up Boone’s Farm Strawberry Hill for Pinot Noir.
It’s THAT good! ;)
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