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Juicy and perfectly shaped, grapes like these have been producing great wines for centuries.

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Winemakers have developed their own methods and traditions to give their wine its own

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identity.

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Compared with other regions in France, Alsace is just a small wine-producing region, but

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the grapes from here are appreciated for their distinctive fresh and fruity character.

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Timing is an important factor in the quality of the product. That's why viticulture experts

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like Alexandre Boudreau of the Cave de Blebenheim collects grapes every week to determine the

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best time to harvest them.

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The quality of the grapes depends on a variety of criteria and is the result of many different

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things that happen throughout the year, from planting until harvesting. So you have to

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take all these criteria into account to get perfect maturity of the grapes and get the

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best quality wine.

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But grape vines are very vulnerable plants. Throughout the centuries, Europe's wine industry

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has been threatened by viral diseases, mold and mildew.

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Some kinds of vine have been protected using traditional breeding techniques to create

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resistant plants.

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Grafting together the fruit-bearing part of the vine with roots from another plant can

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also help control disease.

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Sometimes, however, winemakers must turn to chemical solutions such as pesticides, which

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can be damaging to soil.

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At the French National Research Institute in Colmar, experts are looking at ways of

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protecting vines and, with them, Europe's wine industry as it competes with the New

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World wines. France will have lost around four percent of its wine exports by 2008.

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Italy will have lost almost a third. In the meantime, producers in Australia, the United

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States, Chile and South Africa have embraced new technologies and increased the volume

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as well as improving quality.

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Scientists in Colmar have developed a plant that is resistant to viral disease. The root

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part of the vine has been genetically modified to be immune to grapevine fanleaf virus, a

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particularly threatening virus to vineyards.

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Another virus is introduced to the root part of the plant, which changes its genetic make-up,

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rendering it resistant to grapevine fanleaf virus. It becomes immune to viruses spread

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by nematodes in the ground. This resistant rootstock is then grafted to a scion, or the

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fruit-bearing part of the vine that has not been genetically modified.

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This ensures that grapes themselves are natural, as Olivier Lemaire of the Institute explains.

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This part here is the rootstock of the wine plant, and this is the only part in this experiment

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that is genetically modified. Here you have the grafting point, and all of this part is

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non-transgenic.

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But the use of advanced science in winemaking is opposed by some traditionalists, says Serge

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Charvat of the Carve de Bebelheim.

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In France, it's still something of a taboo. It creates major controversy from an ecological

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point of view. There are protests, and in some cases, critics destroyed these wine plants

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in the region because of the experiments in Alsace. I think we need to do these tests

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under strict surveillance, because plant modifications and grafting have been used in the past, and

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we need to do something.

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The Colmar experiment will continue until 2009. Meanwhile, at the Instituto Agrario

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San Michel alle Dije in Italy, a big breakthrough has been made. Researchers have managed to

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decipher the entire DNA sequence of the grapevine genome. The genetic code is now available

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for researchers and viticulturists alike. Financed by the regional government of the

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Trento province, a team of Italian and American scientists finished the decoding of the 19

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chromosomes of the genome in all about 500 million elements, or nucleotides.

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Italian genetics expert Roberto Viola led the sequencing projects in the Adige Valley.

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He hopes that the results of his team will lead to new methods to fight against the plant

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diseases that many Italian wine producers are suffering from.

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The secret here is to make the plant defend itself, and we know we can do that once we

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understand the mechanisms behind the resistance genes that protect plants against pathogens,

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and when we do that, if we do that, we can then get the plant to defend itself without

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having us all the time to come to the rescue of the plant spraying chemicals on it.

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Despite the field studies in Colmar and the lab breakthrough in Italy, it's unlikely that

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genetically engineered wine will be grown and harvested soon. But researchers are certain

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their work can now allow them to understand exactly what makes a good tipple.

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With the knowledge of the wine genome, we can find out more about the characteristics

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of a wine's quality and what gives certain regions distinctive tasting wine. This will

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put the old system of winemaking in the province in a position where it can gain strength in

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the market.

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Back in Alsace, wine technician Alexandra Boudreaux is out amongst the vines almost

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every day, examining the grapes and collecting samples. The fruits of her labour will benefit

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the 130 or so wine growers who use the Bebelenheim Cooperative to crush and ferment their grapes.

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They count on new technologies and Alexandra's frequent checks to find out when their grapes

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should be picked.

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We wait to have a good balance between the sweetness and the acidity of the grapes. This

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is when we decide to start the harvest.

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Most wine producers in Europe remain opposed to the idea of genetic modification, as do

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most consumers. But basic research is moving forward carefully and experts hope winemakers

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will, before too long, be raising their glasses to the best quality wine possible.