Autochthonous is derived from the ancient Greek and means native, indigenous, originating here.
It refers to all forms of indigenous biological species that have been present in a region for a long time and, above all, without any human intervention.
These are species that have evolved over the centuries and are native to their area of origin.
The opposite are the so-called allochthonous, or alien, species.
They were established by humans in areas where they were not originally found.
A wine is therefore described as autochthonous or indigenous or typical of the region if the grapes or grape varieties used are native to the area and originate there.
Basically, the grapevine is a plant that mutates readily and easily.
The former custom of planting different grape varieties in one and the same vineyard.
As a result, more than 10,000 different grape varieties were able to develop naturally and regionally around the world.
However, since the trend in viticulture has increased to plant only single-varietal grape varieties in vineyards and cloning has largely been left to the vine nurseries, the number of cultivated varieties has continued to decline.
For some years now, however, more attention has been paid to indigenous grape varieties, and the wines made from them have developed into genuine specialties of their respective regions.
The autochthonous Valais grape varieties include Humagne blanche, Petite Arvine, Amigne, Humagne rouge and Cornalin.
Humagne blanche has been cultivated in Valais since the beginning of the 14th century, but is probably descended from a variety that is also used in the southwest of France.
Petite Arvine can look back on a proud history of more than 400 years in Valais, while Amigne has its origins entirely in Valais, as recent analyses have shown.
Humagne rouge was first mentioned in writing in 1900 in the municipality of Fully and the highly sensitive Cornalin grape, like Humagne blanche, has also been grown in Valais since the 14th century.
