The Role of Clones

How clone selection affects the wines you buy.

Perhaps no single factor has shaped the upsurge in wine quality over the past decades as much as vine clone selection. The practice of identifying quality vines and reproducing them by cuttings was first introduced by the Viticultural Institute at Geisenheim, Germany nearly a century ago. The finest strains of Riesling were cloned and planted all over the Rhineland. Even today, the best clones of Riesling are widely thought to be the Geisenheim clones.

American Pinot Noir languished in quality until superior clones were identified in the 1980s. Now American Pinot Noir and in particular, California and Oregon Pinot Noir, has set the standard for New World Pinot Noir-thanks to the so-called Dijon clones which became available in the 1990s.

As late as the 1960s, most New World vineyards were composed of a mix of various clones, rogue vines, and mutations, not to mention mixed plantings. Probably the most famous of these vineyards was the Geyserville (CA) Vineyard, now owned by Ridge Vineyards. This extraordinary vineyard produces, year after year, an unusual Zinfandel Field Blend that actually benefits from the mix. But such is rarely the case with vineyards in which careful clone selection has not been practiced. Today, clone selection is used increasingly, not only to favor the best quality vines and produce a more uniform product, but also to reduce the incidence of viral diseases.

The most fascinating result of clone selection, in this writer's opinion, has to do, not with Pinot Noir, but with Sauvignon Blanc. Sauvignon Blanc, also known as Sauvignon (not to be confused with Cabernet Sauvignon, a hybrid of Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc), has had a very mixed record in the New World. In California, it is often fermented simply in Stainless Steel, preserving its pure, varietal character; but also in oak barrels, to soften its forward acidity and add a Chardonnay-like layer of depth. The wine buying public shied away from racy Sauvignons, preferring softer ones. But an odd thing happened on the way to the market. In the aftermath of the government sponsored Vine Pull Scheme of 1986, viticulturists from New Zealand imported a single clone of California Sauvignon Blanc. All of New Zealand's famous Sauvignon Blanc vineyards were planted with cuttings from this single source well into the 1990s. So New Zealand's most unique offering to the world of wine owes its pedigree to a California clone that never performed so well on its home turf.