Lucania as the heart of III vine domestication center: The rediscovery of autochthonous vines / Lucania fulcro del III Centro di domesticazione della vite: La riscoperta dei vitigni autoctoni

Abstract

In Basilicata, where it sees a vineyard dominated by mountains and not far from the ruins of the Roman city and Early Medieval Grumentum (Val d'Agri PZ), it's obvious to think of its existence at all times. The landscape scenery stimulates the visitor to sense an ancient feeling underlined by producers wisdom with the winemaking art documented for centuries. Genetic and historical-archaeological research confirm it by carving a real substratum of autochthonous varieties in a context, the Enotria, which is now better understood also in the material culture. When talking about Enotria and conventionally we think an indefinite wine land, which later became Italia, it is easy to slip into the rhetoric. The situation has changed. The Enotria, land recognizable to the Greeks through the vineyards planted with the support of poles (oinòtra), is becoming a reality perceptible and tangible thanks to a research done not only in the laboratory but also in the historical archives and especially in field. The grapevine germplasm research in Basilicata, financed by Region and local authorities, developed by CREA-UTV and CNR-IBAM, exploring the areas of Val d'Agri, Pollino, Matera, Vulture and High Basento and enhanced by an anthropological study, is bringing to public attention varieties so far only imagined in the abundance of grape names which tradition has bequeathed. About the 154 varieties spread in the Lucan towns surveyed in “Statistics of the Naples Kingdom” disposed by G. Murat in 1811, about the 63 wine varieties and 29 to dual purpose (wine and table), cataloged in Ampelographic Bulletins of the Ministry of Agriculture of 1881, or about the 30 vines from which it has been produced wines presented at the first wine exhibition of 1887 which was held in Potenza, mostly have unfortunately gone missing along with the memory of those who died or emigrated elsewhere abandoning the vines. In archives, remain some ephemeral relationships of those who, like Frojo and Lacava, were worried about record at least the presence, leaving to posterity further details. From the field, exploring old vines or identifying ancient solitary stocks and making use of the historical memory of winegrowers, authentic custodians of biodiversity and of oral tradition for names and ampelographic characters, we have collected 561 accessions. The DNA study has then unraveled varietal confusion detecting synonymous and homonymies, restoring confidence in the effective recognition of the varieties spread in the region. About the accessions analyzed, 421, corresponding to 68 distinct varieties, are included in the National Register; while 140 (17 of which related to foreign varieties) have vernacular names that, in the failure to meet the registered varieties, represent the precious first signal of great vivacity of these territories, where the evolution in cultivation and selection of best grapes has never stopped, together with a deep understanding of grape physiology. Aglianico bianco, Giosana, Iusana, Santa Sofia, as white grapes, and Aglianico delle fosse, Brindisino, Cassano, Colatamurro, as black grapes, are just some of the new autochthonous varieties we recovered, which – when multiplied and authorized for cultivation – could give more recognizability to the terroir, qualitatively expanding the production base towards typicality and naturalness. The explored territories, entered in a wide geographical and cultural area, are the heart within the Enotria core before, and the historical Lucania then, in the III Domestication Centre (Central and Southern Italy and Sicily), which the vine traversed during the third stage from East (Caucasus) to the West, started from the end of the last Ice Age. The vine and the wine tell the story of a territory, becoming themselves cultural heritage, that is authentic cultural markers.