Contributo all identificazione dei principali vitigni calabresi

Despite the current small wine grape acreage, Calabria is one of the Italian regions of more ancient oenological tradition and among the richest in grape diversity. Because of the actual real tangle of synonyms and homonyms in the region, grape cultivar identification (i.e. the definition of their true to type) needs still to be determined in many cases. Therefore a research was carried out on local, ancient varieties, mostly grown in grape collections planted with materials collected from old vineyards. Genetic profiles of more than 250 accessions were analyzed at 10 microsatellite loci (SSR or Simple Sequence Repeats) and careful morphological examination was undertaken by expert ampelographers. A list of synonyms for each of the major cultivars is presented, while the homonyms (different varieties with the same name) are distinctly defined. The correspondence of the examined cultivars with those included in the Grape National Variety Catalogue, and thus currently to be used for plantings, has also been controlled. Both public and private regional grape and wine compartment will benefit by the issues of this research.