Ancient grape varieties

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Many of today's grape varieties probably contain genetic material from very old vines. It is likely that the ancient civilisations of the Assyrians, Egyptians, Babylonians, Chinese, Persians, Phoenicians, Greeks and Romans were already involved in the deliberate breeding of plants and therefore also grape varieties based on wild vines. In order to select the most suitable in terms of yield, resistance and quality, the best were selected and propagated vegetatively by plant division. It is not known whether and when cross-breeding took place at that time. Most of today's leading varieties probably only emerged in the Middle Ages or later centuries. The map shows the Roman Empire at the time of its greatest expansion at the end of the reign of Emperor Hadrian (53-117).

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