Researchers at the University of York have extracted and sequenced DNA from 2,000-year-old grape seeds found in archaeological wells at Cetamura del Chianti in Tuscany, assembling the largest genetic record of grapevines ever recovered from archaeological material, according to University of York and EurekAlert reports published on 11 June 2026.

The work traces a direct genomic link between Roman-era seeds and grape varieties cultivated across Europe today. One striking finding: genetic evidence of white wine ancestry in the Chianti region, a place now almost entirely associated with red wine, particularly Sangiovese.

How Ancient Seeds Survive

Cetamura del Chianti is an Etruscan and Roman settlement in the Florentine hills. The ancient wells found there were sealed for centuries, creating oxygen-free conditions that preserved organic material — including grape seeds — well enough to yield readable DNA. The site has been systematically excavated over years, providing researchers a substantial collection of plant remains to work with.

Extracting DNA from seeds two millennia old is technically difficult. The genetic material degrades over time, contamination from soil bacteria complicates results, and plant remains yield smaller DNA fragments than animal tissue. Scientists need both precise extraction methods and comprehensive reference databases of modern grapevine DNA to match ancient sequences against current varieties.

What the Genetic Data Shows

The central finding is straightforward: ancient Tuscan grape seeds belong to the same family tree as grapes still cultivated across Europe today. That continuity is surprising given the agricultural upheavals that interrupted European viticulture over twenty centuries — the fall of Rome, medieval farming restructuring, repeated plague outbreaks, and the 19th-century phylloxera crisis that destroyed most of Europe's vineyard stock.

One genotype found in the Cetamura material appears closely related to ancient grape seeds previously analyzed from southern France, according to EurekAlert. This genetic similarity across regions suggests deliberate exchange of vine cuttings and knowledge between Roman Gaul and Roman Italy, rather than separate domestication events.

The white wine genetics finding will interest viticulture specialists most. Today's Chianti wine rests almost entirely on Sangiovese, a red-fruited variety with debated historical origins. The York research suggests the Chianti region's ancient vineyards were genetically more varied — including white-fruited varieties — long before the consolidation around red grapes that now defines the region's character and regulatory identity.

Building on Earlier Work

The University of York has pursued this line of research for years. A 2019 study examined ancient DNA from Roman and medieval grape seeds, establishing the technical methods the new work refines. The 2026 results represent a significant scaling up in sample size and geographic detail.

For archaeobotanists, a key advance lies in method. Successfully extracting whole-genome data from waterlogged wells — not only from charred or desiccated seeds in drier contexts — opens this kind of analysis to more archaeological sites. Mediterranean archaeology is full of well deposits. The Cetamura results may set a template for wider application.

For Italy's wine industry and its regulatory system for geographical origin, the genomic record raises an important tension. Appellations appeal to tradition and terroir — the idea that a region's climate, soil, and history make its wine unique. When ancient genetic evidence turns out to be richer and more mixed than the modern regulatory framework recognizes, it raises questions about which traditions are actually being preserved, and which were themselves later simplifications of a more complex past.