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Grapes are a unique agricultural product. While more than half go toward the production of wine, they are also grown to be dried into raisins or eaten fresh. Grapes command more return per acre than almost any other plant, and in 2018, a single hectare of grand cru vineyard in Burgundy cost over seven million dollars on average. Further, unlike many crops that are planted each growing season, vineyards are a long-term investment—they require several years to become established and are designed to survive for decades.
Unlike many commodity plants, the profitability of wine grapes is driven by quality, which includes the grape’s ability to convey a unique sense of place. While other agricultural crops look to new varieties for flavor improvement, disease resistance, and adaptations to climate, most wine producers rely on a small number of established cultivars. Site selection and vineyard practices, however, are critical, since improvement is achieved through management of the vine’s environment.
Grapes were one of the first fruits to be domesticated by humans. In ancient times, they were prized for their high levels of sugar, a source of both nutrition and novelty. Most of the grape varieties used in wine production belong to a single species, Vitis vinifera, which was first domesticated from wild grapevines, called Vitis vinifera subsp. sylvestris(or Vitis sylvestris), at least 7,000 years ago in the land between the Black, Caspian, and Mediterranean Seas. As nomadic people settled into an agrarian lifestyle, they carried grapevines south to Mesopotamia. Domestic vinifera grapes were spread from the Fertile Crescent throughout the Mediterranean and Europe, driven by the westward migration of farming communities and, eventually, the expansion of the Roman Empire. Vitis sylvestris is native to Europe and Western Asia, and wild grapevines still inhabit these areas. Some evidence indicates that there may have been other centers of domestication of Vitis sylvestris, including sites in the Iberian Peninsula and Southern Italy.
Over time, a collection of grape varieties was generated through the process of evolution, breeding, and human selection. Today, roughly 10,000 grape cultivars exist, with over 1,400 in commercial production, and grapegrowing has spread to hospitable zones throughout the world.
Grapevines are lianas: unlike trees, they do not produce extensive wooden support systems but are instead “structural parasites,” climbing on trees for support. They are also phototrophs, or sunseekers, and invest most of their energy into producing leaves and tall shoots, since rapid vertical growth is essential for competition with other plants for vital sunlight. In nature, grapevines invest little energy in fruit production, yielding just enough scraggly clusters to ensure proliferation. Wild vines are also dioecious, which means that both male and females plants exist, and successful fertilization relies on wind and insects for pollination. Male plants bare no fruit, and female plants are only fruitful when a male plant is nearby.
By contrast, since domesticated grapevines are cultivated for their fruit, they have been selected and managed to be prolific. Hermaphroditic, self-pollinating varieties were likely chosen initially, since these vines would have reliably produced more fruit. In addition to high yields, the selection of vines suitable for agriculture favored those with other beneficial characteristics, including large clusters, adaptations to the growing environment, and resistance to disease. The ability to attain the high sugar concentrations necessary for wine production, as well as taste, aroma, and appearance, also factored into selection. Analogous to a house cat and a lion, domestic vines have diverged significantly from those found in nature.