This article has been reviewed according to Science X's editorial process and policies. Editors have highlighted the following attributes while ensuring the content's credibility: Spain and Portugal are two of the world's most popular wine-growing countries, with regions such as Rioja and the Douro Valley producing millions of bottles every year. This winemaking tradition dates back thousands of years, but its exact origins remain a mystery.
To understand how it all started, scientists led by Carolina Royo of the Instituto de Ciencias de la Vid y del Vino in Spain took a step back into the past and studied ancient grape seeds. While studies of modern grape DNA can provide clues about ancestry, they cannot directly show which vines arrived in Iberia or when. So the research team gathered 28 waterlogged ancient grape seeds previously recovered from seven archaeological sites in Spain and Sardinia.
They spanned more than 2,000 years of grape cultivation, from the Iron Age to the Middle Ages. To accurately map family trees and connect the past with the present, they extracted DNA from these old seeds and compared it with genetic profiles of modern cultivated and wild grapevines. In particular, they analyzed markers in both nuclear DNA and chloroplast DNA.
Chloroplasts are plant structures that convert light into energy, and their DNA is passed down exclusively from the female parent in grapevines. The study, published in the journal Current Biology, reports that the oldest cultivated-type grape seeds from southern Spain date to roughly 1000 BCE and carry genetic signatures linked to modern varieties in the eastern Mediterranean and Balkan regions. The researchers say this supports the idea that domesticated vines were brought to the region by Phoenician settlers from the eastern Mediterranean.
"Viticulture began with the introduction of eastern domesticated grapevines in Iberia around the beginning of the 1st millennium BCE," the study authors wrote. But the story did not end there. The team also found evidence that imported vines crossed with native plants.
Some of the Iron Age seeds had genetic features associated with wild grapes from Iberia and western Europe, as well as domesticated eastern ancestry. A key finding was that around 2,500 years ago, a distinct Iberian wine-grape genetic group had already become established. This group is related to varieties still grown on the Iberian Peninsula today.
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