Mediterranean pollen sources for the October grape

Some rooted cuttings with Mediterranean heritage are telling me that spring has arrived in the greenhouse.  They were potted last fall, and put out a few leaves before Thanksgiving.  Cold March nights in the teens took the greenhouse into the lower 30s.  These vines looked a bit stressed the following week.  Now, they are putting on a little grown spurt. All of this is well ahead of anything outside in the vineyard.

Their late ripening dates caught my attention when reviewing the US National Plant Germplasm System's database in 2012. Coming from hot, low latitude climates, they should produce some interesting crosses with native Texan vines. All three produce large, low acid table grapes.  When crossed with tart, small berry local rupestris and cinerea, the result should be interesting.

Itonychi Mavro (Greek): Based on genetic evidence this is either a child or parent of Black Morocco, which has been a popular table grape in the Mediterranean for centuries. It was collected by Dr. Harold Olmo and became part of the Davis repository in late 1948. The specimen may have come from the island of Cyprus, but was simply labeled 'From Greece'.  I couldn't find the name 'Itonychi Mavro' used anywhere else on the Internet.  The name was 'romanized' by Dr. Olmo, which may account for this.  Mavro is Greek for 'black' but looks like this in the Greek alphabet: μαύρος. 

Itonychi Lefko (Greek): According to genetic work, it is identical to ''Olivette Blanche' (France).   According to Winkler's 'General Viticulture', Olivette Blanche is an attractive table grape. The clusters are very large and elongated, with a narrowing at the end.  Grapes of this shape are known as 'ladyfinger' grapes.  The skin is white to yellow, with little acidity.  The skin is thin and prone to bruise, though. It does well in the hot San Joaquin valley of California.   Due to thin skins and associated shipping issues, Winkler concludes it is 'relatively unknown.'  The DNA works says 'Itonychi Lefko'/Olivette Blanche' is the same as Pirovano (Italy), 'Rish Baba' (Persia), Husseine (Afghanistan), Niunai (China),  and Siar (Afghanistan). Apparently, the shipping difficulty for fruit has not constrained people from shipping rooting material from one end of the Silk Road to the other.

Here is a photo of 'Rish Baba' grapes, courtesy of Paradise Nursery:

DVIT 2044: An Algerian table grape collected in 1925 by Dr. Olmo.  There isn't a great deal of information on the selection.  It was one of only late ripening repository selections from Algeria.  Of the cuttings, it was the first to put out leaves. Unlike the above two, this vine has not responded to the lengthening days.  Hopefully, it will show some vigor soon.