Modern Pinot Noir genetically identical to its medieval ancestor

(24 Mar 2026)
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ARCHIVE: Burgundy, France – 12 September 2023

1. Various of harvesting of Pinot Noir grapes at Château de Pommard
2. Man tasting grape
3. Close of Pinot Noir grapes

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Toulouse, France – 21 March 2026

4. Various of Pinot Noir vines at Domaine de Ribonnet
5. Top shot of laboratory
6. Various of papers about wine grape study
7. Pan from laptop to Ludovic Orlando, Director, Center for Anthropobiology and Genomics of Toulouse
8. SOUNDBITE (French) Ludovic Orlando, Director, Center for Anthropobiology and Genomics of Toulouse:
“One of the big discoveries of this study was to find identity relationships. I’m talking about vines which are biologically and genetically the same between the one that we call today the Pinot Noir and seeds we found preserved in sites from the fifteenth century in Valenciennes in the north of France. That means that the fifteenth century, which is a century famous for the end of the 100 Year War for example and the death of Joan of Arc—could, in theory, have seen her encounter the same grape fruits that are produced today, as long as we are talking about the Pinot Noir variety. ”

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9. STILLS: Various undated file images of portraits of Joan of Arc (AP Photo)

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Toulouse, France – 21 March 2026

10. Various of Orlando working in lab
11. Close of map of France on screen
12. Graph on screen showing types of wine grapes
13. Various of Orlando working
14. Driving shot through vineyard

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Eyguières, Bouches-du-Rhône, France – 22 March 2026

15. Entrance to Domaine Oddo
16. Pan of wine estate
17. SOUNDBITE (French) Lorraine Oddo, manager, Domaine Oddo:
“Pinot Noir, we have some but not here, because we have different estates, we have six estates, we are in three different countries, we are in South Africa, in Sancerre, in Sicily and in Provence. So the Pinot Noir, we have it at our place in Sancerre. What is true, is that today we are going back, especially in the southern regions, towards these ancestral grape varieties.  Some grape varieties a bit lost and we are doing a big study also at the moment on researching these old grape varieties, because in fact it brings us, we will say, a lot of things about the changing climate, grape varieties that will also be more resistant and so for us we will say it is something that we look at a lot and on which we work to try to recreate always this dynamic with ancestral grape varieties and to move more towards these grape varieties than the grape varieties which have been, we will say, mixed today to find more authenticity.”

CHÂTEAU DE POMMARD – MUST CREDIT
ARCHIVE: Burgundy, France – 13 September 2023

18. Drone shot of vineyard ++MUTE++

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Eyguières, Bouches-du-Rhône, France – 22 March 2026

19. SOUNDBITE (French) Clémence Vedel, Cellar master, oenologist, Domaine Oddo:
“In our profession, we use it a lot for our personal interest because we come from a very scientific background. We studied oenology, covering everything from the city side to the actual making of wine, and we have done a lot of studies. We work a lot on all grape varieties around the world and in all French wine regions. So we have a personal interest in knowing what is happening in scientific research on the adaptation of vines and grapes in France and Europe. How that adaptation applies to the places where we work is still our subject, but I spend a lot of time reading scientific articles to understand what’s going on, and we have to keep ourselves up to date to be able to share it. ”

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