Evaluation of the intra-varietal diversity of ‘Tempranillo Tinto’ clones prospected in the demarcated winemaking region of Rioja (Spain)

• Published in: Scientia horticulturae 2024-04, Vol.329, p.113015, Article 113015
• Main Authors: Portu, Javier, Baroja, Elisa, Rivacoba, Luis, Martínez, Juana, Ibáñez, Sergio, Tello, Javier
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Clonal diversity; Grape; Phenotyping; Viticulture; Wine
• ISSN: 0304-4238; 1879-1018
• DOI: 10.1016/j.scienta.2024.113015

•‘Tempranillo Tinto’ (TT) is one of the most important wine grape cultivars.•Here, 33 highly diverse TT clones (30 collected from old vineyards) have been studied.•TT clones were found to differ in key traits, like cycle duration or berry weight.•Some clones have beneficial features to fight current viticulture challenges.•Old vineyards host big clonal diversity, essential to ensure sustainable practices. The sustainability of traditional viticulture systems is compromised by different threats, like those derived from climate change. The use of alternative grapevine varieties is suggested as a possible solution, but different regulations limit this practice in many well-known winemaking regions. In these cases, the exploitation of clonal diversity emerges as a useful alternative of adaptation. Here, 30 ‘Tempranillo Tinto’ clones selected from a grapevine collection of 729 clones initially prospected in the demarcated winemaking region of Rioja (Spain) have been studied. The characterization of 27 traits related to phenology, agronomic performance, and oenological potential during three consecutive seasons revealed a high intra-varietal phenotypic spectrum, of interest to adapt to different growing conditions and needs. Interestingly, this diversity was markedly higher to that observed in a series of commercial clones used as controls. Further analyses revealed their clustering into four groups of clones with significant phenotypic differences. We identified a group of clones with late ripening and long veraison-to-harvest periods, of special interest to respond to projected warming conditions. In general, we proved that old vineyards in traditional winemaking regions are reservoirs of clonal diversity for ancient grapevine varieties like ‘Tempranillo Tinto’, which store useful traits to address current and future viticulture challenges.