News release

From: Springer Nature

Plant science: Ancient grape DNA uncorks 4,000 years of French wine history

Ancient DNA from grape seeds spanning 4,000 years reveals the domestication, cultivation, and trade of grapes in France over this period, as reported in research published in Nature Communications. The authors find that one Medieval sample is genetically identical to modern Pinot Noir grapes, indicating almost 600 years of continuous cultivation.

France has a long history of grape cultivation and winemaking and is regarded as one of the world’s foremost wine-producing countries. While previous ancient DNA research has furthered our understanding of this past, questions remain around early grape cultivation due to a lack of archaeological evidence.

Ludovic Orlando and colleagues present whole-genome ancient DNA from 54 archaeological grape seeds, including 47 samples from France and 2 from Ibiza. The samples date from around 4,000 years ago in the Bronze Age to approximately 500 years ago at the end of the Medieval period. They detect the coexistence of wild and domesticated grapevines in seeds dating to as early as approximately 2,800 to 2,400 years ago, in addition to genetic variations associated with the Levant, and later on with the Caucasus. The authors find genetically identical clones that point to the use of vegetative propagation — the growing of new plants from cuttings or stems — to trade grapevine cultivars across hundreds of kilometres as early as the mid Iron Age (approximately 625–400 BCE). The authors also find one medieval sample from Valenciennes (northern France) that is genetically identical to modern Pinor Noir, showing genetic persistence of this grape variety since at least the years 1400–1500.

These findings improve our understanding of both the genetics of grapevine cultivation in France and the cultural processes underlying it, providing a crucial archaeological perspective alongside the existing historical record.