Scientists work to save ancient Muscat

Harvesting has begun on the Sicilian island of Pantelleria, where a team of scientists is attempting to preserve a variety of Muscat grape that is at risk of extinction.

The island of Pantelleria, off Sicily, is famous for using Zibibbo to make Passito sweet wine (Photo: Wikipedia)

The University of Milan team has been searching for ancient strains of Muscat of Alexandria (known locally as Zibibbo) at sites across the Mediterranean basin – from France, Italy, Spain and Greece – for the past five years and cultivating them on test plots on Pantelleria.

The grapes now being harvested are the first to be picked for the project, which has 2,117 vines scattered across the volcanic island.

Pantelleria is most famous for using Zibibbo to make Moscato Passito di Pantelleria, a sweet wine for which the grapes are traditionally partly dried on straw mats to concentrate their sugars.

“These biotypes are at risk of disappearing across the Mediterranean, but we believe that with careful cultivation, their genetic patrimony can help us enhance existing and new Zibibbo wines,” the project’s lead scientist Attilo Scienza, told the Telegraph.

Muscat of Alexandria has been cultivated across the Mediterranean – both as a wine grape and a table grape – for many centuries.

Although not so highly regarded as the Muscat Blanc à Petit Grain variety, it is prized for its ability to produce highly aromatic sweet wines.

The name Zibibbo is thought to derive from the Arabic word zabib (meaning ‘raisin’), suggesting that the grape has been cultivated with this name in this remote Sicilian region since the rule of Arabic-speaking Carthaginians in the sixth to third centuries BC.  

University of Milan researchers who studied the Zibibbo’s genetics said the rootstock is consistently resistant to drought and salinity, but there are important variations.

The team has found 33 different biotypes of the grape: nine on Pantelleria, one in Calabria, 10 in Greece, 10 in Spain and three in southern France, according to Scienza.

“In Turkey, France and Greece, these grapes were destined for wine, while in other areas they were cultivated specifically as table grapes or raisins,” he said. “We realised as we compared them that they differed a lot.”

The team plans to make five different wines from the experimental vines on Pantelleria. Subtle differences in sweetness and aroma have already been observed, Scienza said, adding that once they have been processed into the first batch of wine the team will be able to fully assess their potential.