The prolific grape variety (Vitis vinifera L.) ‘Heunisch Weiss’ (= ‘Gouais blanc’): bud mutants, “colored” homonyms and further offspring

Abstract

‘Heunisch Weiss’ (syn. ‘Gouais blanc’) contributed to a considerable increase of our varietal assortment, including renowned varieties like ‘Chardonnay’ and ‘Riesling Weiss’. Three phenotypic variants of ‘Heunisch Weiss’ were discovered in the grapevine collection at the JKI Institute for Grapevine Breeding Geilweilerhof: (a) ‘Heunisch Dreifarbig’ (three coloured ‘Heunisch’; VIVC prime name ‘Heunisch Dreifarbig’) expressing intense anthocyanin coloration on shoots, inflorescences and leaf petioles before fruit set and even red berry skin at fruit set stage; (b) ‘Pekasore’ (VIVC prime name ‘Heunisch Rotgestreift’; red striped ‘Heunisch’;) with rose to red stripes on white berries and (c) the stenospermocarpic ‘Aspirant’ (VIVC prime name ‘Heunisch Weiss Seedless’).
Four cultivars proving to be homonymous in relation to ‘Heunisch’ were investigated at 24 loci to determine their identity or relatedness to ‘Heunisch Weiss’, respectively. ‘Heunisch Schwarz’ turned out to be a ‘Heunisch Weiss’ offspring. No parent offspring relationship was detected for ‘Heunisch Rot’, ‘Haenisch Rot’ = ‘Pamid’, and ‘Heunisch Blau’ . Ampelographic description was carried out for some of the accessions to trace back historical evidences. In addition five new ‘Heunisch Weiss’ offsprings were identified and confirmed by analysing 35 nuclear microsatellite loci. The accession ‘Furmint Apiren’ turned out to be a seedless bud mutant of the ‘Heunisch Weiss’ offspring ‘Iordan’.