INRA

The French National Institute for Agricultural Research (INRA, renamed INRAE in 2020 following its merger with IRSTEA) is a leading French state research organization founded in 1946. In the field of ampelography, the institute plays a central role in preserving global grapevine genetic resources, developing molecular DNA typing methods, and breeding fundamentally new polygenically resistant grapevine varieties.

Preservation of the Global Ampelographic Gene Pool

Under the institute's auspices operates the world's largest ampelographic collection—the Grapevine Biological Resources Center (CRB-Vigne), located on the isolated sandy soils of the Marseillan commune (Vassal estate). The collection accumulates over 8,000 registered accessions of grapevines from all viticultural regions of the planet, including wild species of the genus Vitis, specialized rootstocks, direct producers, and classical autochthonous cultivars of the species Vitis vinifera. This repository serves as a global reference standard for the morphological and genetic description of grapevines within the frameworks established by the International Organisation of Vine and Wine (OIV).

Contributions to Molecular Ampelography and Genetics

Since the 1990s, the institute's research groups have achieved a series of fundamental breakthroughs in grapevine DNA typing using simple sequence repeat (SSR) microsatellite markers and SNP analysis:

• INRA specialists (specifically the ampelographer Jean-Michel Boursiquot), in collaboration with the University of California, Davis, experimentally proved the parentage of the key wine grape cultivar Syrah from the parental pair Mondeuse blanche × Dureza.
• The exact genealogical connections for classical cultivars such as Cabernet Sauvignon (a natural hybrid of Cabernet Franc and Sauvignon Blanc) and Chardonnay were successfully deciphered.
• The institute's DNA analysis methods enabled the verification of historical paleo-ampelographic findings, proving the continuous existence of clones from the Pinot and Savagnin Blanc varietal groups within France since the Middle Ages.

Breeding Programs: From Intraspecific Hybrids to the ResDur Project

The evolution of the institute's breeding work is divided into three key historical stages:

1. Early Stage (1950s): Intraspecific hybridization within the species Vitis vinifera under the direction of Pierre Marcel Durquéty. The most notable result of this 1956 program was the development of the wine grape cultivar Arinarnoa. The variety was originally declared as a cross of Merlot × Petit Verdot; however, genetic analysis conducted by INRA scientists in 2013 disproved the initial records, establishing the true parental pair as Tannat × Cabernet Sauvignon.
2. Alain Bouquet Program (1974): The launch of large-scale interspecific hybridization utilizing the American species Muscadinia rotundifolia as a donor of absolute resistance to downy and powdery mildew. Within the program, a series of successive backcrosses with cultivated varieties was executed to fully restore the technological quality of the berries and eliminate undesirable wild flavor profiles.
3. INRA-ResDur Program (since 2000): The contemporary phase of breeding, based on marker-assisted gene "pyramiding." The objective of the program was to combine multiple distinct resistance loci against pathogens (the fungal diseases Plasmopara viticola and Erysiphe necator) into a single genotype.

The outcome of the ResDur project was the official inclusion of the first four innovative varieties patented by the institute into the Official Catalogue of Vine Varieties in France in 2018, featuring complex polygenic resistance (the treatment frequency index for fungicides on these varieties is reduced by 96%):

• Floreal and Voltis — white technical grapevine varieties.
• Artaban and Vidoc — red technical grapevine varieties (derived from the German cultivar Regent and a complex interspecific hybrid bred by INRA).

Scientific Significance

The institute's developments facilitate the rapid adaptation of global viticulture to the challenges of global climate change (breeding for drought tolerance and shifts in ripening phenofaces) and fundamentally reduce the pesticide pressure on the soil horizons of commercial vineyards.