Georgian native grapevine varieties Alexandrouli Dzveli Alexandrouli and mudjouretouli: description , genetic relationship and hypotheses about their origin.

Three Georgian native grape cultivars, ‘Alexandrouli’, ‘Dzveli Alexandrouli’ and ‘Mujuretuli’ (Vitis viniferaL.), widely grown in the Racha province of western Georgia, were investigated by SSR molecular markers andchemotaxonomic, ampelographic and phenological methods. The investigations aimed to clarify genetic andphenetic correlations among the cultivars and to learn their possible genetic relationships. The results showed that‘Alexandrouli’ and ‘Mujuretuli’ are two phenotypically distinct clones with identical genetic profiles. Probably‘Mujuretuli’ originated in the Racha province as a mutant of ‘Alexandrouli’. On the other hand, ‘Dzveli Alexandrouli’is genetically and ampelographically distinct. Hence, ‘Dzveli Alexandrouli’ and ‘Alexandrouli’ can beconsidered as homonym cultivars. Results emphasize the importance of integrating genotyping and phenotypingmethods with ethnographic and written sources in germplasm characterization.