In WINELIFE 71, Huib started a short series on Vitis vinifera, the grape to which the wine drinker owes so much. This time, he takes a closer look at a curious phenomenon: a grape, pinot meunier, that has two different DNAs. And that, in theory, is comparable to something like a cow with the head of an orang-utan. - TEXT HUIB EDIXHOVEN | IMAGE PEXELS.COM
Actually, the intention was to limit this short series to three parts. Until WINELIFE decided to put pinot meunier in the winter spotlight this issue. And let this happen to be a delicious freak of a grape. A marvel of nature, shall we say, that simply cries out for a fourth volume.
Triplets
As we also read in Part 2, the various pinot grapes have a special connection. Pinot noir, pinot blanc and pinot gris are not actually different grape varieties. They are no more than one mutation apart and are therefore considered clones of each other. Because this family is so ancient and the cells have had to copy themselves endlessly, quite visible mutations have occurred over the centuries. A particularly close family relationship, then. You can therefore perhaps best think of them as identical triplets with only a few characteristic differences. The colour in the skin is, of course, the most distinctive feature in Pinots.
Outsider
With pinot meunier, we have a fourth member. It too is no more than a mutation away from the same primordial pinot. Yet there is something more going on here.
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