Cabernet sauvignon – which clone is that?

Clones generally

According to The Oxford Companion to Wine (3^rdEd, 2006) (“Oxford Companion”), a clone:

in a viticultural context is a single vine or a population of vines all derived by vegetative propagation from cuttings or buds from a single ‘mother vine’ by deliberate clonal selection. 

Put another way, they are grape vines grown from plant cuttings, rather than the planting of seeds.

Some cabernet sauvignon clones in Australia

Easy comprehension and clonal identification of grape varieties, in this case cabernet sauvignon, do not appear correlated.  Many of the clones are unhappily named, perhaps closer to a bar code than their home in the soil.

In Australia, cabernet sauvignon clones include the C125, CW44, FPS12, G9V3, LC84, LC10, LC14, PDFS, Q390-05, R2V11, SA124, SA125, SA126, Reynella Selection and WA Cape Selection.  The latter two provide gentle hope of recall. The former group however would rarely appear, or appeal, on a considered wine label.

Clonal characters

Nick Dry, viticulturalist at the Yalumba Nursery in an article entitled “Yalumba Nursery: The Coonawarra Cabernet Sauvignon Clonal Trial” published in the May/June 2011 issue of the Wine and Viticulture Journal provides useful guidance on certain cabernet sauvignon clones:

• CW44 is the first “Coonawarra clone”  and was selected from the Richardson’s block by the Department of Agriculture and released in 1980.  It is said to be a moderate yielding clone that produces good fruit flavours;
• the FPS12 was imported in 1991 from Foundation Plant Services in California, via Chile in 1971 and prior to that a selection from Bordeaux in the 1880s;
• G9V3 is from the Foundation Plant Services in California;
• PDFS is the “Plants de France Selection” from Michel Colomb in 2011.  This is said to produce moderate yields with medium sized berries.  A trial in Coonawarra in 2007 suggested it to have vigour, capsicum like flavours and quite good tannin ripeness but also quite acidic;
• the Q390-05 was imported from the Centre for Plant Health in Sidney, British Columbia, Canada and arrived in Canada from a private source in France.   A trial in Coonawarra in 2007 suggested it to have low vigour, small bunches, good tannin and flavour ripeness, and good maturity of flavour and tannin for its baume;
• SA125 was selected from the Dorrien Vineyard in the Barossa Valley and is widely planted in South Australia.  It is described as a low yielding, early ripening clone that produces wines with good intensity and ripe tannins.  SA126 was also selected from the Dorrien Vineyard;
• the Reynella Selection is a mass selection traceable to the Reynella vineyard in McLaren Vale planted in the 1840s.  It is generally low yielding, but can produce inconsistent yields from season to season and performs better in warmer years.  “Mass selection” according to the Oxford Companion means “when many vines are selected to provide budwood” and “the identity of the individual vines is not maintained”.  It has been a cost effective means of propagation; and
• the WA Cape Selection is a selection of 21 vines at Houghtons in the late 1960s originally sourced from selections from South Africa more than 100 years ago.  A trial in Coonawarra in 2007 suggested more acid than tannin, good growth habit and low vigour. 

Australian winery observations

Here are observations from a selection of Australian wineries in relation to cabernet sauvignon clones in use in 2011:

• Tahbilk suggest that plantings in the 1980’s were all G9V3 but other earlier and later plantings and the source of all planting material are not known.  The peppermint and eucalyptus characters of the G9V3 clone are considered attractive;
• Balnaves indicate that they have several different clones of cabernet sauvignon but the best results to date seem to be coming from the ‘Reynella Selection’ source of cabernet sauvignon. The selection seems to be less biannual in bearing, seems to cope better with stress and produces complex flavours;
• at De Bortoli, all premium cabernet wine is made from SA125.  Depending on the site SA125 tends to have less methoxypyrazine characters (herbaceous, bell pepper aromas) than other clones, but all clones are susceptible to bud mite damage and eutypa symptoms as they age;
• at Yeringberg, the first cuttings planted were said to be from Great Western, and from the same (unknown) source as that planted at Mount Mary.  A number of years later Yeringberg obtained cuttings from Seville Estate, from clone SA126.  The fruit from both plantings is fermented together;
• at Majella, the first cabernet sauvignon vines were planted in 1970.  There are small plantings of C125, LC84, R2V11 clones, but most of the plantings owe their heritage to the original Majella “selection”; and
• Yalumba indicate that over the last twenty years they have used most clones, but have had most consistent success with  Reynella and SA125.  Other clones such as CW44 and G9V3 perform better under some seasonal conditions or on different soil types.

This is a brief snapshot of cabernet sauvignon and some of its clones in use in Australia in 2011.  From the observations, it is plain that this is a complex area, with the various clones presenting “swings and roundabouts” as regards desirable cabernet sauvignon characters and acceptable viticultural performance. See also RM Cirami, MG McCarthy and PR Nicholas, “Clonal selection and evaluation to improve production of Cabernet Sauvignon grapevines in South Australia”, (1993) 33 Australian Journal of Experimental Agriculture 213-20.

Please note that this article is an edited version of my article originally published in November 2011. The source content from 2011 however has not been updated. Please do not hesitate to provide comments to reference more recent material or information.