Genetic diversity of the grapevine (Vitis vinifera L.) cultivars most utilized for wine production in Portugal

Portugal is very rich in grapevine biodiversity but nowadays only a small number of cultivars (13 black and 3 white) with defined enological characteristics are being used. However, there are still 51 cultivars with significant expression in the country which have a great potential to be used in the establishment of new vineyards. Considering the importance of identifying and understanding the genetic relatedness of the main cultivars used for wine making in Portugal, those cultivars were genotyped with the 6 SSRs loci VVMD5, VVMD7, VVMD27, VrZag62, VrZag79 and VVS2 that are recommended by the Office de la Vigne et du Vin for the elaboration of the worldwide database containing the alleles of all the known grapevine cultivars. A total of 49 alleles were detected with an average allele number of 8.17 per locus. The SSR profile of the 51 cultivars, at the 6 evaluated loci, indicates that all can be distinguished from each other. In addition, this study produces information on the relationship of these 51 grapevine cultivars with cultivars of other important Mediterranean wine producing regions.