Clonal selection of autochthonous grape variety Vranac in Montenegro

Vranac is very important grape variety within Montenegrin autochthonous assortment and it is one of the most significant for viticulture and winemaking sector in Montenegro. Grape of this variety is used for production of top quality red wine which is much appreciated at domestic and foreign market. Old grape varieties that have been cultivated for a long time on a specific area, such as Vranac, are characteristic by their heterogeneity in term of manifesting their features that gradually lead to degradation of grape variety. Because of that, within those appreciated grapevine varieties, there was a need for clonal selection in aim of certain vines separation which have positive mutations of some economically important traits. Work on clonal selection has started in 2004 in order to separate the best vines within population of grape variety Vranac. During multi-year (2004-2014) work on clonal selection of grape variety Vranac in Montenegro it was selected and recognized seven clones of this variety (Vranac clone 1, Vranac clone 2, Vranac clone 3, Vranac clone 4, Vranac clone 5, Vranac clone 6 and Vranac clone 7). Paper presents agro-biological, economic and technological features of Vranac clones comparing to population of variety. Selected clones surpassed population of variety in some of parameters of yield and grape and wine quality and based on that were recognized.