The Italian agronomist and viticulture expert Professor Italo Cosmo was director of the "Istituto Sperimentale per la Viticoltura ed Enologia" in Conegliano (Veneto) from 1946 to 1975. He was also involved in a large scale breeding activity, creating a series of new grape varieties and rootstocks. Most of them bear his name with a serial number. These included the new wine grape varieties Fertilia (Cosmo 108), Flavis (Cosmo 76), Italica (Cosmo 103), Nigra (Cosmo 96) and Prodest (Cosmo 109). The rootstock vines Cosmo 2 and Cosmo 10 were crossed from Vitis berlandieri x Vitis riparia; Cosmo 4, Cosmo 7 and Cosmo 9 were selected from the rootstock Teleki 8B.
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