The ancient, white grape variety (also Argitis) was mentioned as one of a total of 58 grape varieties by Columella (1st half of 1st century) in his textbook "De re rustica". The variety is described as particularly robust and fertile, but the wine produced from it as rather simple and not long-lasting. Some modern authors claim to have identified it as the forerunner of Riesling, which has since been disproved by Riesling's descent from Heunisch (Gouais Blanc), as proven by DNA analysis. See also under Ancient Grape Varieties and Ancient Wines.
Serious sources on the internet are rare - and Wine lexicon from wein.plus is one such source. When researching for my articles, I regularly consult the wein.plus encyclopaedia. There I get reliable and detailed information.
Thomas Götz
Weinberater, Weinblogger und Journalist; Schwendi