Genetic and phenolic characterization of several intraspecific crosses (Vitis vinifera L.) registered in the Italian national catalogue

‘Albarossa’, ‘Cornarea’, ‘Nebbiera’, ‘Passau’, ‘San Martino’, ‘San Michele’, ‘Soperga’ and ‘Valentino’ are intraspecific crosses obtained by Prof. Dalmasso in the 1930s. All of them were officially registered in the National Catalogue in 1977. ‘Albarossa’, ‘Cornarea’, ‘Nebbiera’, ‘San Michele’ and ‘Soperga’ boasted a noble pedigree having ‘Barbera’ and ‘Nebbiolo’ as parents, as well as ‘Dolcetto’ and ‘Nebbiolo’ were supposed to be the parents of ‘Passau’, ‘San Martino’ and ‘Valentino’. Observations carried out for several years showed good agronomic and enological aptitudes of the cultivars, however DNA analysis, by mean of SSR markers, confirmed only the parentage with ‘Barbera’ and ‘Dolcetto’, depending on the different cultivars, but not the one with ‘Nebbiolo’. The comparison with the genetic profiles of around one hundred cultivars from Piedmont, indicated in the autochthonous minor variety known as ‘Nebbiolo di Dronero’ (but recently registered in the National Catalogue as ‘Chatùs’) the second probable parent. An in-depth study on qualitative and quantitative aspects of the grape phenols crosses also excluded ‘Nebbiolo’ as a parent whereas it confirmed a good consistency with the phenolic profiles of ‘Barbera’, ‘Dolcetto’ and ‘Nebbiolo di Dronero’.