Hibernal is a variety of
white wine
White wine is a wine that is Fermentation in winemaking, fermented without skin contact. The wine color, colour can be straw-yellow, yellow-green, or yellow-gold. It is produced by the alcoholic fermentation of the non-coloured Juice vesicles, ...
grape of the hybrid with ''
Vitis vinifera
''Vitis vinifera'', the common grape vine, is a species of flowering plant, native to the Mediterranean region, Central Europe, and southwestern Asia, from Morocco and Portugal north to southern Germany and east to northern Iran. There are curre ...
'' which was developed in 1944, by
Heinrich Birk
Heinrich Birk (1898 – 1973) was a German viticulturist. He was head of the Geisenheim Grape Breeding Institute. Heinrich Birk studied philosophy at the University of Giessen after his initial graduation 1920–1923 in agronomy at the university ...
at the
Geisenheim Grape Breeding Institute. The variety is a genetic
crossbreed
A crossbreed is an organism with purebred parents of two different breeds, varieties, or populations. ''Crossbreeding'', sometimes called "designer crossbreeding", is the process of breeding such an organism, While crossbreeding is used to main ...
of the ''
Seibel 7053'' and ''
Riesling clone 239'' grape varieties.
Hibernal has had
plant variety protection
The Plant Variety Protection Act of 1970 (PVPA), 7 U.S.C. §§ 2321-2582, is an intellectual property statute in the United States. The PVPA gives breeders up to 25 years of exclusive control over new, distinct, uniform, and stable sexually reprod ...
since 1977 and was included on the list of varieties in 1999.
Hibernal was developed for the same reasons as other new varieties developed by the Geisenheim Institute, such as
Ehrenbreitsteiner
Ehrenbreitsteiner is a white wine grape variety of German origin. It was created by Helmut Becker at the Geisenheim Grape Breeding Institute in 1964, by crossing the varieties Ehrenfelser and Reichensteiner. ,
Dakapo,
Rondo and
Saphira. The basic idea was to develop pest and fungus-resistant vines. In bad years Hibernal is susceptible to
mildew (
powdery mildew and
downy mildew) and must be provided with 1-2 sulphur treatments shortly before and/or shortly after flowering. The variety, however, has a very good winter hardiness even against stronger frosts.
The full-bodied and racy wine produced has a taste at times similar to a
Scheurebe
Scheurebe or Sämling 88 is a white wine grape variety. It is primarily grown in Germany and Austria, where it often is called Sämling 88 (''English'': Seedling 88), and some parts of the New World. Scheurebe wines are highly aromatic, and the v ...
. The variety is particularly important in South East Europe.
See also
*
German wine
German wine is primarily produced in the west of Germany, along the river Rhine and its tributaries, with the oldest plantations going back to the Ancient Rome, Roman era. Approximately 60 percent of German wine is produced in the state of Rhine ...
*
List of grape varieties
References
* Walter Hillebrand, Heinz Lott, Franz Pfaff: ''Taschenbuch der Rebsorten.'' 13., neubearbeitete Auflage. Fachverlag Fraund, Mainz 2003, .
External links
Hibernaldatasheet in
Vitis International Variety Catalogue
The Vitis International Variety Catalogue (VIVC) is a database of various species and varieties/cultivars of grapevine, the genus ''Vitis''. VIVC is administered by the Geilweilerhof Institute for Grape Breeding (''Institut für Rebenzüchtung Gei ...
database
{{Hybrid grape varieties
White wine grape varieties
Hybrid grape varieties