Grape Variety: Riesling Italico

Variety Name	Riesling Italico
TTB Approved Name(s)	TTB has approved the name Welsch Rizling, a synonym of Riesling Italico
Common Synonyms	Welschriesling, Welsch Rizling
All Synonyms	Aminea Gemela, Biela Sladka, Bielasladka Grasica, Glasica, Grasavina Talijanska, Grasevina, Groshevina, Italian Rizling, Italianski Rizling, Italianski Rizling, Laski Rizling, Meslier, Meslier de Champagne, Nemes Olasz Rizling, Olaiz Riesling, OlasRiesling, Olasz Rizling, Petit Riesling, Petracine, Riesler, Riesli, Riesling, Riesling Italian, Risli, Risling Italyanskii, Risling Vlashskii, Rismi, Rizling Italico, Rizling Vlassky, Talianska Graseviana, Talijanski Rizling, Vakusky Rizling, Vlasak, Waleschriesling Weisser, Walschriesling, Welsch Rizling, Welschrizling, Welschriesling
Countries of Origin	France
Species	Vitis vinifera
References	Show 4 references Hide references Robinson, J. 2006. The Oxford Companion to Wine. Third edition. Oxford University Press. Vitis International Variety Catalogue (VIVC). Federal Centre for Breeding Research on Cultivated Plants (BAZ). Institute for Grapevine Breeding Geilweilerhof (IRZ). August, 2007. Link The former National Grape Registry (NGR) was initially compiled and annotated using the earlier version of the Vitis database. The VIVC underwent a significant update beginning in 2007. Corresponding updates to this Registry will be made as necessary. Calo, A. et al. 2001. Vitigni d’Italia. Edagricole-Edizioni Agricole della Calderini. Bologna, Italy. (In Italian) Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB). Code of Federal Regulations Title 27 Part 4.91 List of approved prime names. Link
Berry Color	White
Uses	Wine
Comments	Riesling Italico (syn. Welschriesling) is a white grape variety grown widely in Central and Eastern Europe. Known as Olasrizling in Hungary, the cultivar is the most planted grapevine. The cultivar is the most planted white wine grape in Croatia, where it is known as Grašvina. The true Riesling is known in Italy as Riesling renano. There is another grape cultivar in Italy with the name ‘Riesling’, which is genetically unrelated to the ‘true Riesling’ (Riesling renano). Riesling Italico has characteristically different morphology and produces distinctly different wine than Riesling renano. [This information was excerpted from an article on the Rieslings of FPS from the October 2009 FPS Grape Program Newsletter, accessible at http://fps.ucdavis.edu in the Publications area]

Riesling Italico Selections

Information about: Selection Numbers | Registration Status

How Selection Numbers are Created

Questions are often asked as to how Foundation Plant Services (FPS) decides which number to assign to the grape selections in the foundation vineyard and whether those numbers relate to particular clones that may be the sources of the FPS selections.

The answer for most selections in the FPS foundation vineyard is that selection numbers are assigned by the next available (unused) number in sequence for that variety. There is nothing magical about it. For example, the first Sauvignon blanc selection that came to FPS in 1958 was named Sauvignon blanc FPS 01. The next Sauvignon blanc arrival received the name Sauvignon blanc FPS 02. Gaps in the numbering system in the current list of available selections mean that the omitted number was taken out of circulation for some reason, such as death from disease.

FPS intentionally chose the word "selection" rather than "clone" when referring to the products offered in the foundation vineyard. The word "clone" can be confusing and ambiguous. The major European collections have formal evaluation protocols for grape material to qualify material for release as an official "clone". Evaluation criteria includes field performance and wine making characteristics.

FPS does not perform formal clonal evaluations on the grapevine materials accepted for the foundation vineyard. The word "selection" at FPS simply means the material was collected from a single source vine from the vineyard of origin, whether within the United States or from a foreign vineyard. Some of our numbered selections have been through trials here in California but FPS does not conduct those trials or evaluations.

Having said that, there is a subgroup of selections at FPS that are official numbered clones from the formal clonal development programs in Europe. Those official clones are imported and sold by the owners as proprietary (trademarked) clonal material in the United States. The owners are large government or nursery entities in Europe, such as the ENTAV-INRA® clonal material from the IFV program in France. In order to preserve the identity of those clones, FPS agreed to assign them the same official clone number that the program in Europe gave them when released there. Cabernet Sauvignon 685 from France received the name Cabernet Sauvignon ENTAV-INRA® 685 at FPS. The owners of those proprietary clones are the ones who vouch for or affirm the authenticity of their trademarked clones.

Lastly, there is a small subset of "clones" that came to FPS in the 1980's prior to the establishment of the trademark programs for the European clones. Those clones also came to the United States associated with clone numbers assigned when the clones were developed in Europe. Many of the French clones in that group were developed at Dijon in France and the material has been known as the "Dijon clones". Those French clones were not protected by an official trademark program at the time they came to the United States. Some of those clones are no longer used in France and some were incorporated into the ENTAV-INRA trademark program.

FPS refers to this subset of clones as "generic clonal material". FPS agreed that we would assign those non-proprietary clones a new number at FPS rather than the European clonal number. They received their FPS numbers using the "next in order" rule. We may have a note on the plant description that the selection is "reported to be a certain French clone number". FPS cannot guarantee that such a selection is the official French clone number that it was formally associated with in France.

	Riesling Italico 04
Registration Status	Registered Registered is the ultimate status in the California Department of Food & Agricultures Grapevine Registration & Certification Program. Registered selections have successfully completed all disease testing required by the regulations. Registered selections have also been confirmed as true to variety by experts using visual observations, DNA-based testing or both.
Protocol 2010	Qualifies for Protocol 2010.
Source	Walsch Riesling FPS 01, which was from Jackson, California
Treatments	Microshoot tip tissue culture disease elimination therapy
Comments	This selection originated from plant material that was once planted (location N24) in the vineyards of University of California's Foothill Experiment Station in Jackson, California. The material came to FPS around 1965 and was planted in the foundation vineyard in 1967 under the name Walsch Riesling FPS 01. The selection tested positive for leafroll virus in the 1990's and underwent microshoot tip tissue culture disease elimination therapy. The name was changed in 1996 from Walsch Riesling to the more-correct Riesling Italico. After the treated plant material successfully completed disease testing, the selection was released with a new selection number, Riesling Italico 04.
	Riesling Italico 05
Registration Status	Registered Registered is the ultimate status in the California Department of Food & Agricultures Grapevine Registration & Certification Program. Registered selections have successfully completed all disease testing required by the regulations. Registered selections have also been confirmed as true to variety by experts using visual observations, DNA-based testing or both.
Protocol 2010	Qualifies for Protocol 2010.
Source	Hungary
Treatments	Microshoot tip tissue culture therapy
Comments	Riesling Italico 05 was donated to the Foundation Plant Services public collection in 2003 by Dr. Laszlo Kocsis, Georgikon Faculty, Department of Horticulture, University of Veszprem, Hungary. The plant material was originally named Italian Riesling, but the name was changed in 2010 to reflect the correct prime name for this variety. The original material was infected with virus and underwent microshoot tip tissue culture disease elimination therapy in 2007. The treated plant material successfully completed testing for the California Grapevine Registration & Certification Program and was planted in the FPS Classic Foundation Vineyard in 2011.