Seed dreams of bigger things

Few wine grape seeds make it this far on the vine. They go down with the bulk of the bunches at harvest time, or they are tipped out by the weather if they are part of overlooked grapes.

This vineyard in St Livre, near Aubonne in canton Vaud, is protected from the elements.

Several grape bunches, well past the late harvest stage, are gently reaching old age, seeds intact and looking interested in replanting themselves. Instead of letting grapes create genetic chaos we uproot any offshoots and turn to nurseries for plants of a kind that will give us grapes for manageable winemaking.

Imagine our ancestors saying what a terrific swig of wine that was, but there’s no way to duplicate it!

Innovation may be a 21st century buzz word but several centuries BC some smart drinkers began tinkering with grapes. Let’s raise a toast to their ingenuity.