Grapevine is one of the main crops in Italy. Although 650 wine grape varieties are currently included in the Register, 43% of the national surface under vines is covered by only 10 cultivars. In Piedmont, the 10 most cultivated cover almost 90% of the regional vineyard area. A multi-year activity launched more than 30 years ago by the CNR before the disappearing of many 
historic vineyards, has led to the recovery and conservation in the ex-situ Grinzane Cavour collection (http://www.ipsp.cnr.it/en/thematics/turin-headquarter-thematics/grinzane-cavour/) a considerable amount of regional inter-varietal diversity with more than half of the preserved material represented by minor cultivars, in the process of being abandoned or even now present only in collection.
The experimentation aims to contribute to the preservation of the grapevine biodiversity heritage of Piedmont through:
• Maintenance in excellent vegetative state and care of the 900 accessions present in the collection.
• Characterization of 10 recently recovered varieties, obtaining genetic, morphological, agronomic and grape quality data.
• Dissemination by the upload of the new ampelographic sheets in the VitisGrinzane database (https://vitisgrinzane.ipsp.cnr.it/) shortly in open access, and organization of guided visits to the collection by the public and sector operators.
Project leader: Giorgio Gambino
IPSP staff: Chiara Pagliarani, Irene Perrone, Concetta Mottura, Anna Schneider
Fund: Regione Piemonte – PSR 2014-2022, Misura 10.2.1, Bando 1-2022.
Starting date: 07/02/2023
Ending date: 31/12/2023
