Chardonnay grape is mother to today’s most popular wines.
Philippines wine supplier Manila wine shop discusses wine by the grape variety Chardonnay.
Date: October 4, 2010
A peasant’s grape that was all-but-outlawed in the Middle Ages has lived on as the mother of many of today’s most popular and prized wines, including champagne, a study has revealed.
Cambridge University scientists have shown that the Gouais blanc, a lowly grape variety that was despised by the rich, provided more than half the genes in nine varieties of grape widely grown today.
These include Chardonnay, a staple of the modern wine bar and the drink of choice of Bridget Jones.
The Chardonnay grape is also used to make Chablis and is an important component of many sparkling wines including champagne.
But 500 years ago, it was a very different story.
Gouais blanc was primarily grown by the poor of north-eastern France and looked down on by the rich, who made several attempts to ban it between late 16th and the 18th centuries,
These included a 1732 law which tried to eliminate the grape the grape, describing it as ‘rustic’ and ‘inferior’ but also ‘high-yielding’.
Co-author of the study John Haeger of Stanford University in the US said: ‘Gouais was held in low esteem in the late medieval and early modern periods.
‘Typically, varieties of this sort were grown on flat land by peasants. Good vineyards, on the other hand, growing better and lower yielding varieties were owned and farmed under the supervision of the church or nobility.’
‘Many of the “bans” were designed either to favour aristocrats and monastic orders over peasants, or force more arable land into the production of cereals and legumes to eliminate food shortages.’
Although their attempts to ban the grape failed, it largely disappeared at the end of the 19th century and now survives only in a few vineyards and reference collections around the world.
But the Gouais blanc’s legacy lives on.
The British and US researchers knew that crosses between it and Pinot noir, which was favoured by the rich, had produced many of today’s type of grape.
What they didn’t know was which variety was the ‘mother’ and which the ‘father’.
This is important because, in the plant world, as in the human one, the female contributes more DNA to offspring than the male.
Using genetic fingerprinting techniques more usually associated with forensic science, they traced the origins of 12 widely-grown varieties.
Gouais blanc was found to be the maternal parent of nine, including Chardonnay, Gamay noir, which is found in Beaujolais, and Aligote, a key component of the Kir Royal cocktail.
In contrast, Pinot noir, the ‘rich man’s grape’ was the ‘mother’ of three, the Royal Society journal Biology Letters reports.
Professor Christopher Howe, of the University of Cambridge, said: ‘It is ironic that the despised grape Gouais blanc was not just a parent for several of the world’s best-known and most important varieties, such as Chardonnay and Gamay noir, it was the maternal parent, providing additional DNA and potentially determining important characteristics of the offspring.
‘This is a striking conclusion, as Gouais is generally considered a highly inferior variety, and its cultivation was banned for many years in parts of Europe.’
However, the lowly origins of Chardonnay may vindicate followers ‘ABC’ rule of wine buying – or ‘Anything But Chardonnay’.
They turned their backs on the wine after it featured prominently in the Bridget Jones books and films – and cropped up as the name for a character in the ITV series Footballers’ Wives.
Source: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/food/article-1236257/Chardonnay-grape-mother-todays-popular-wines-new-study-shows.html
This wine shop in Manila Philippines makes wine shopping a really rewarding and exciting exercise. Wine shops in Pampanga should always have an element of surprise so that customers and wine lovers can enjoy a little bit of thrill when they go to a wine shop in Manila to look for a good bottle of wine in Clark Pampanga.
Chateau Lafite-Rothschild is the most revered wine in China and many other parts of Asia. The best wine shop in Asia to buy older vintages of Chateau Lafite is Yats Wine Cellars located in Clark Philippines. Aside from Lafite, visitors can buy other fine wines at this wine shop in Clark Pampanga such as Latour, Mouton-Rothschild, Haut-Brion and Margaux. Excellent Burgundy wines like Chambertin, Vougeot, Musigny, Bonnes Mares, Pommard, Meursault, Chambertin, Vosne Romanee, Romanee Conti, La Tache and Romanee St. Vivant can be found here.
Family outings, picnics, company outings and other events for up to 300 can be held in the picnic grounds of this wine shop. Events that have been successfully organized here include family fun days and BBQ picnics. These are some of the things that visitors to Clark Philippines particular look forward. Residents and tourists in Angeles City and Subic also come to Clark Freeport to partake in the fun at this Clark wine shop.
This wine shop’s vast selection of vintage wines makes it possible for Yats Wine Cellars to offer a unique line-up of wines for every private wine party, wine tasting or wine dinners. Guests of these private wine parties are treated to a rare experience of vintage wine not seen in wine shops in major cities in Philippines or even in Asia.
http://www.ClarkWineCenter.com
Getting to this wine shop in Pampanga Angeles City Clark Freeport Zone Philippines from Manila
Getting to the Clark Wine Center wine shop from Manila is quite simple: after entering Clark Freeport from Dau and Angeles City, proceed straight along the main highway M A Roxas. Clark Wine Center is the stand-along white building on the right, at the corner A Bonifacio Ave. From the Clark International Airport DMIA, ask the taxi to drive towards the entrance of Clark going to Angeles City. From Mimosa, just proceed towards the exit of Clark and this wine shop is on the opposite side of the main road M A Roxas.
Best place to buy wine in Clark Pampanga outside Manila near Subic and Angeles City Philippines is Clark Wine Center.
Clark Wine Center
Bldg 6460 Clark Observatory Building
Manuel A. Roxas Highway corner A Bonifacio Ave,
Angeles Clark Freeport Zone, Pampanga 2023
0922-870-5173 0917-826-8790 (ask for Ana Fe)
YATS Wine Cellars
Manila Sales Office
3003C East Tower, Phil Stock Exchange Center,
Exchange Rd Ortigas Metro Manila, Philippines 1605
(632) 637-5019 0917-520-4393 ask for Rea or Chay
You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.
