Albert Seibel
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| Persondata | |
|---|---|
| NAME | Seibel, Albert |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | |
| SHORT DESCRIPTION | Viticulturist |
| DATE OF BIRTH | 1844 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Aubenas, Ardèche, France |
| DATE OF DEATH | 1936 |
| PLACE OF DEATH | |
| Born | 1844 Aubenas, Ardèche, France |
|---|---|
| Died | 1936 |
| Citizenship | French |
| Nationality | French |
| Field | Viticulture |
| Known for | Breeding the Seibel series of hybrid grapevines |
Albert Seibel (1844-1936) was a French physician and viticulturist who made hybrid crosses of European wine grapes (Vitis vinifera) with native North American grapes. His crosses are known as Seibel grapes.
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[edit] Biography
Seibel was born in Aubenas in the Ardeche in 1844.
In 1895, he founded a school to teach grafting methods.
He died in 1936.
[edit] Breeding programme
- See also: Seibel grapes
In the 1860s the Phylloxera plague cut European wine production by more than two-thirds.[1] As the pest originated in the New World, crossing American stock with European Vitis vinifera varieties was one of the promising attempts to contain the disaster. The vines produced by this hybridization did not necessarily produce better wines, but did produce vine stock that could better survive Phylloxera attacks.
Seibel and his company produced over 16,000 new hybrids, with nearly 500 varieties that were then grown commercially. He often used as a female parent the hybrid Jaeger 70, a cross between Vitis lincecumii ]and Vitis rupestris produced by Hermann Jaeger. Some of the most famous Seibel grapes are Aurore (Seibel 5279), Chancellor (Seibel 7053), Chelois (Seibel 10878), De Chaunac (Seibel 9549) and Vidal Blanc (Vidal 256).
His grapes were widely planted in France and Brazil[2]. However, other than in countries such as Canada where traditional wine grapes grow poorly, Seibel grapes have fallen from favour in recent years owing to the quality of the wine they make.
[edit] References
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- This article is based in part on material from the German Wikipedia.
- Seibel, Albert Definition in the Wine Dictionary at Epicurious.com accessed 8 November 2006;
- Paul, Harry W. (2002) Science, Vine and Wine in Modern France Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK, pp. 103-104, ISBN 0521525217
