September in Paris, the Botanical Garden is celebrating the domestication of the grape vine – more than 5,000 years ago.
A long process of selection and hybridization led to the creation of several thousand varieties grown for their fruit, suitable for winemaking or consumption. In September, grapes begin to mature, depending on the region and variety, the harvest can take place between August and October. In 2020, due to a particularly hot summer in France, the grapes matured earlier than usual.
At the Jardin des Plantes in Paris, vines can be found in the Ecological Garden. They include the Hamburg muscat, the Fontainebleau chasselas, and American hybrids such as noah and baco, whose winemaking was banned in France since the 1930s!
Also, in the Vellum Collection of the National Museum of Natural History is a historical source for the study of vines. Almost all of the thirty or more representations of grape varieties are painted with an anonymous hand, dating from the end of the 18th century.
MARTINA NICOLLS
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MARTINA NICOLLS is an international aid and development consultant, and the author of: The Paris Residences of James Joyce (2020), Similar But Different in the Animal Kingdom (2017), The Shortness of Life: A Mongolian Lament (2015), Liberia’s Deadest Ends (2012), Bardot’s Comet (2011), Kashmir on a Knife-Edge (2010) and The Sudan Curse (2009).
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