Original research paper by Dr. Gerald Atkinson
Copyright (©) Gerald Atkinson, 2020
The author may be contacted by e-mail at: grapevines@hotmail.co.nz
This paper addresses the history and nature of the longstanding confusion in New Zealand between the Pinot noir clone A.M. 10/5 and the U.C. Davis Foundation Plant Services Pinot droit (upright-growing Pinot noir) clone FVI60v15. It provides a definitive account of the history of these clones in New Zealand, and details how and why they became widely and seriously confused in this country. The paper argues that key and fundamental mistakes and erroneous beliefs about the identities of several of the key Pinot noir clones involved in the 1970s-80s Lincoln College vine trials lie at the heart of the 10/5 – Pinot droit confusion. It suggests that at key points in these vines’ distribution to the New Zealand industry in the early 1980s, perhaps as few as only two people (both of whom were closely involved with the Lincoln vine trials) were able definitively to distinguish A.M. 10/5 and what at Lincoln was known as the upright-growing ‘D5V12’ Pinot noir clone. The paper also illustrates clearly how to distinguish Pinot noir A.M. 10/5 from Pinot noir FVI60v15 and its sub-clonal offspring. A concluding highly informed critical account of both clones is offered as well. In it the author argues that neither A.M. 10/5 nor the FVI60v15 Pinot droit has any real merit or place in New Zealand’s current or future premium Pinot noir plantings.
Original research paper: “The Origins, History, and Confusion of Pinot Noir Clone A.M. 10/5 and Certain Pinot Droit and Other Pinot Noir Clones in New Zealand”, by Dr. Gerald Atkinson
Copyright (©) Gerald Atkinson, 2020
The author may be contacted by e-mail at: grapevines@hotmail.co.nz