You may have heard some wine aficionados discussing clones in the past, or maybe you’ve seen it on one of our labels: 2023 Pommard Clone Pinot Noir. In this article, we’re going to cover what clones are, how they came to be, and why we use grape clones when producing wine.
New grape varietals are created sexually, that is, a seedling is a unique descendent of its parent grapes and related to its siblings. A famous example of this is Cabernet Sauvignon; whose parent grapes are Cabernet Franc and Sauvignon Blanc. When two parent grapes reproduce together again, their second child will be entirely different from their first, just like you are different from your siblings even though you share the same parents. But if you were just perfect enough, and modern technology provided your parents with the means, they might just clone you instead of risking an imperfect second child.
Like your parents who love you enough to clone you, when winemakers and viticulturists want to change the grape they grow, they do so by the process of grafting. Here’s how grafting works: Winemaker A currently grows Merlot but wants to grow Pinot Noir #1 instead. So, he calls up Winemaker B and asks for cuttings of B’s Pinot Noir #1. Winemaker A then cuts off the new buds of Merlot that are starting to grow and joins the Pinot Noir to the vine in place of the original buds. The roots and vine are simply responsible for nutrient delivery; they have no impact on what kind of grape will fruit off their labor. So, when the new bud of Pinot Noir is grafted on, the roots and vine deliver the necessary nutrients to the bud, which in turn grows its Pinot Noir fruit. Since the new buds were cut off an existing vine, they will be 100% genetically identical to the grapes that the stem was cut from (for now).
Mount Eden Clone Pinot Noir was recently grafted onto an acre of Merlot at Regan Vineyards. The small piece protruding from the wrapping is the new Pinot Noir Bud that will grow from the Merlot vine.
Over time, varietals were selectively cut and grafted across many vineyards and many climates. Winemakers noticed that a particular vine was performing exceptionally well in their vineyard and graft it onto the rest of their vines so they could have those desirable clusters across their whole space. As we studied grapes more closely, we noticed that these clusters of a single grape variety had developed genetic differences. Essentially, Pinot Noir #1 was grafted onto Winemaker A’s vineyard and still called Pinot Noir #1, but over time, #1 had developed its own genetic variations due to its environment, leading oenologists to rename it Pinot Noir #2.
This led us to define them as “clones. ” One way to think about this is if you were the parent of twins who grew up in a cold climate. Now imagine one twin moves to Central Africa while the other stays where they are. If you check in on their families ’generations down the line, the descendants of the twin who moved to Africa likely developed some traits that help them survive better in extreme heat. Just like Pinot Noir #1 slowly mutated to differ from Pinot Noir #2.
Clones of a varietal all have varying strengths and weaknesses, some variations between clones are thinner skins, more color, varying levels of heat and disease resistance, or different flavor compounds. All these attributes lead winemakers to grow many clones for the best possible wine. Even on the same vineyard, each clone will provide its own strength to a wine so that a winemaker can produce a well -rounded and balanced final product.
The label of our 2023 Pommard Pinot Noir.
Producing a stellar wine is no easy feat, and winemakers have dozens of arrows in their quiver to make great wine. At Regan Vineyards, we grow four clones of Pinot Noir: Mount Eden, Pommard, Dijon, and Martini as well as two clones of Chardonnay: Mount Eden Clone and Clone 04. When you are planning to make an award -winning Pinot Noir or Chardonnay, it helps to have multiple clones at your disposal to blend. Each clone grows differently than its colleagues from year to year based off a variety of factors (climate being a significant one). This means that every year, it ’ s likely that one clone will thrive (ideally all of them), giving us the best possible chance to get outstanding Pinot Noir or Chardonnay grapes from one of our clones. It’s almost like diversifying your portfolio of Pinot Noir.
Though our Reserve Pinot Noir is always a blend of all four of our clones, we adjust the ratio of each based on how our grapes matured that harvest.
Often, we produce single clone wines as well. Currently at Bargetto Winery, we have the Reserve Pinot Noir, a Mount Eden Clone Reserve, a Pommard Clone Reserve, and a Dijon Clone vintage. Recently our 2023 Reserve Pinot Noir and our 2023 Mount Eden Clone Pinot Noir both won “Best of Class” at the SF received 96 points from Wine Enthusiast, the highest score that Bargetto Winery Chronicle Wine Competition has ever received, and our 2023 Pommard Clone Pinot Noir received Best of Class at the 2023 San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition. It’s not often that a single clone wine turns out as outstanding as our 2023 Mount Eden Clone or 2023 Pommard Clone.
Next time you visit the winery, try our single clone Pinot Noirs alongside our Reserve and try to determine if you can taste each clone’s presence in the Reserve Pinot Noir.
