Chardonnay grape is mother to today’s most popular wines

april 08 2011

 

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

 

 

Wine lover’s choice – Yats Restaurant and Wine Bar – for the most impressive and practical wine list in the Philippines, over 2700 selections, enough to satisfy the most fastidious connoisseurs.  Wine lovers and gourmand foodies from Hong Kong, Singapore, Japan, Korea and Malaysia dine at Yats Restaurant & Wine Bar when they visit Philippines and bring home some rare vintage wines too.

 

An excellent wine list is not just about 1st growth and cult Cabernet but a seemingly unending selection of affordable aged vintage wines that are not available anywhere else, not even in the best wine shops around town.  Yats Restaurant has just that.

 

Visitors to Clark Philippines and Angeles City no longer suffer from lack of choices for places to eat out or wine and dine.  Clark Philippines reviewed over 50 establishments and came up with three top choices in guide to best restaurant in Clark Freeport

 

Clark Philippines lists Top Three Restaurants in the Clark Freeport Zone and Angeles City areas of Philippines Pampanga province.  Clark Freeport is a bustling new cosmopolitan city complete with its own Clark International Airport.

Topping the list is the famous fine-dining Yats Restaurant and Wine Bar located inside Mimosa Leisure Estate of Philippines Clark Freeport.

 

 

This restaurant in Pampanga Philippines is highly recommended by food critics and frequent diners in Manila as a place to wine and dine in Angeles City Clark Freeport Zone.  Although it is a famous fine dining restaurant with an award winning 3000-line restaurant wine list, Yats Restaurant is also a popular restaurant for family with children.  Aside from French Mediterranean haute cuisine, this restaurant also serves healthy food and the best vegetarian cuisines in the Philippines.

 

 

For comments, inquiries and reservations click on <a href=” http://www.yatsrestaurant.com/booking/index.html”>Click here for inquiry and reservations</a>

 

 

Restaurant@Yats-International.com

 

(045) 599-5600

0922-870-5178

0917-520-4401

 

Ask for Pedro and Rechel

 

<a href=”http://www.YatsRestaurant.com”>www. YatsRestaurant.com</a>

 

 

Getting to this fine dining restaurant of Angeles City Clark Freeport Zone Pampanga Philippines

How to get to this fine-dining restaurant in Clark Philippines?  Once you get to Clark Freeport, go straight until you hit Mimosa.  After you enter Mimosa, stay on the left on Mimosa Drive, go past the Holiday Inn and Yats Restaurant (green top, independent 1-storey structure) is on your left.  Just past the Yats Restaurant is the London Pub.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5u5vLLIlNgw

 

 

Yats Restaurant & Wine Bar

Mimosa Drive past Holiday Inn, Mimosa Leisure Estate,

Clark Freeport Zone, Pampanga, Philippines 2023

 

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