Actual and possible impact of grapevine local varieties on viticulture : the Italian case

Local varieties have to be considered as an antinomy of international varieties. Local varieties take part of terroir viticulture while international varieties produce varietal wines. They consist in dozens of cultivars that represent almost 90% of the Italian viticultural acreage. In spite of their relevance, their role in quality wines is declining. Strategy for local varieties improvement should include: A) clonal selection by weak selective pressure; B) demarcation, within each terroir, of suitable areas for their cultivation, by agro-ecological of zoning procedures; C) characterization of their ecophysiological behaviour and ripening profile as a basis to optimize the cultural techniques, the timing of vintage and grape qualitative potential.