What is an ampelographer? - Karen MacNeil & Company

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February 2, 2026

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October 31, 2025

What is an ampelographer?The following content is accessible for members only, please sign in.

A. A person who can identify grape varieties by looking at a grapevine’s leaves and clusters

B. A person who, using a specialized branding iron, marks oak barrels with a winery’s name and logo

C. A person (commonly in Burgundy) who surveys vineyards to determine the exact ownership of specific rows of grapevines

D. A person who grows grapevines by burying the canes of existing vines in the fall and then uncovering new plant tissue in the spring

An ampelographer is a person who practices ampelography, a field of botany that deals with the identification and classification of grapevines. Ampelographers can tell what variety of grapes is planted in a vineyard by looking at the shape, size, and texture of the grapevine’s leaves, clusters, and berries. Before the invention of DNA typing of grapevines (in the 1990s), the variety or varieties in vineyards were identified by ampelographers.

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