Optima is a white

wine Wine is an alcoholic drink typically made from fermented grapes. Yeast consumes the sugar in the grapes and converts it to ethanol and carbon dioxide, releasing heat in the process. Different varieties of grapes and strains of yeasts are m ...

grape A grape is a fruit, botanically a berry, of the deciduous woody vines of the flowering plant genus ''Vitis''. Grapes are a non- climacteric type of fruit, generally occurring in clusters. The cultivation of grapes began perhaps 8,000 years ago, ...

that was created by

viticulturalist Viticulture (from the Latin word for ''vine'') or winegrowing (wine growing) is the cultivation and harvesting of grapes. It is a branch of the science of horticulture. While the native territory of ''Vitis vinifera'', the common grape vine, ran ...

Peter Morio at the Geilweilerhof Institute for Grape Breeding in the Palatinate in 1930.Wein-Plus Glossar: Optima
accessed on January 22, 2013Vitis International Variety Catalogue: Optima
accessed on May 22, 2008 Morio crossed a

Riesling Riesling (, ; ) is a white grape variety that originated in the Rhine region. Riesling is an aromatic grape variety displaying flowery, almost perfumed, aromas as well as high acidity. It is used to make dry, semi-sweet, sweet, and sparkling wh ...

Silvaner Sylvaner or Silvaner is a variety of white wine grape grown primarily in Alsace and Germany, where its official name is Grüner Silvaner. While the Alsatian versions have primarily been considered simpler wines, it was included among the vari ...

cross with

Müller-Thurgau Müller-Thurgau is a white grape variety (sp. ''Vitis vinifera'') which was created by Hermann Müller from the Swiss Canton of Thurgau in 1882 at the Geisenheim Grape Breeding Institute in Germany. It is a crossing of Riesling with Madeleine R ...

. The Riesling x Silvaner is sometimes mentioned as Rieslaner, but more often just as "a Riesling x Silvaner". Due to the random element of

genetic recombination Genetic recombination (also known as genetic reshuffling) is the exchange of genetic material between different organisms which leads to production of offspring with combinations of traits that differ from those found in either parent. In eukaryo ...

involved in

sexual reproduction Sexual reproduction is a type of reproduction that involves a complex life cycle in which a gamete ( haploid reproductive cells, such as a sperm or egg cell) with a single set of chromosomes combines with another gamete to produce a zygote tha ...

plant Plants are predominantly photosynthetic eukaryotes of the kingdom Plantae. Historically, the plant kingdom encompassed all living things that were not animals, and included algae and fungi; however, all current definitions of Plantae exclud ...

s, no two crosses of the same parent grape varieties will be identical, so there is a difference between the Riesling x Silvaner cross Rieslaner, and each other such cross. Optima received varietal protection and was released for general cultivation in 1970 and 1971, respectively. Its name is derived from the

Latin language Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through ...

word for "the best". Optima ripens very early, even before other varieties which are considered as early ripening, such as

. Its late budding made it popular in the Mosel region, since it thus was less prone to frost damage. It can also grow on poor sites, where more demanding grape varieties such as Riesling do not ripen very reliably. It also easily achieves very impressive

must weight Must weight is a measure of the amount of sugar in grape juice (must) and, hence, indicates the amount of ethanol, alcohol that could be produced if it is all fermentation (wine), fermented to alcohol, rather than left as residual sugar.

s, resulting in its use as a booster of

Prädikat The German wine classification system puts a strong emphasis on standardization and factual completeness, and was first implemented by the German Wine Law of 1971. Nearly all of Germany's vineyards are delineated and registered as one of approxi ...

levels and sweetness in cheap German blended wines, primarily in

Rheinhessen Rhenish Hesse or Rhine HesseDickinson, Robert E (1964). ''Germany: A regional and economic geography'' (2nd ed.). London: Methuen, p. 542. . (german: Rheinhessen) is a region and a former government district () in the German state of Rhineland- ...

and Mosel. This use is similar to the variety Ortega. Varietal wines made from Optima grapes are usually yellow-green in colour, can show aromas similar to Riesling, but are lower in acidity. For this reason they have been described as "flabby and undistinguished", and as mentioned above, primarily used in blends. German plantings of Optima peaked at in 1990, but in similarity with many other new breeds of white German grapes, Optima has lost popularity in recent years. It is now grown on less than of vineyards in Germany. The remaining plantations are found primarily in Mosel and Rheinhessen. It is known under the synonyms (breeding codes) Geilweilerhof 33-13-113 and Gf. 33-13-113. Optima was used in a crossing to produce the grape variety Orion.

References

{{Reflist White wine grape varieties