Georgian Native Grapevine Cultivars ‘Alexandrouli’, ‘Dzveli Alexandrouli’ and ‘Mujuretuli’: Description, Genetic Relationship and Hypotheses About Their Origin.

Three Georgian native grape cultivars, ‘Alexandrouli’, ‘Dzveli Alexandrouli’ and ‘Mujuretuli’ (Vitis vinifera L.), widely grown in the Racha province of western Georgia, were investigated by SSR molecular markers and chemotaxonomic, ampelographic and phenological methods. The investigations aimed to clarify genetic and phenetic correlations among the cultivars and to learn their possible genetic relationships. The results showed that ‘Alexandrouli’ and ‘Mujuretuli’ are two phenotypically distinct clones with identical genetic profiles. Probably ‘Mujuretuli’ originated in the Racha province as a mutant of ‘Alexandrouli’. On the other hand, ‘Dzveli Alexandrouli’ is genetically and ampelographically distinct. Hence, ‘Dzveli Alexandrouli’ and ‘Alexandrouli’ can be considered as homonym cultivars. Results emphasize the importance of integrating genotyping and phenotyping methods with ethnographic and written sources in germplasm characterization.