I was amazed to come across this article recently:
A team of European scientists has, for the first time, unlocked the genome of the common grapevine, Vitis vinifera?—a type of vine commonly used in the production of Pinot Noir.
Scientists expect that their discovery, published in the British journal Nature, will make it possible for geneticists to assist in the development of new, more resistant varieties of grape and the production of superior wines.
The multinational project, which involved research centers in Australia, France, Chile, Germany, Italy, Spain and the United States, found that the grape genome has around 480 million 'letters' and just over 30,000 protein-coding genes.
In fact, the research revealed that the grapevine contains more than twice as many genes involved in producing essential oils and aromas as other plants whose genomes have been sequenced.
... it's dated November 15 2007, yet I blogged this little piece of 'breaking news' over a year and a half ago!
Still, it doesn't make it any less amazing. I reckon the greater our understanding, the better the final product will be. Even if all it leads to is the eventual falling back to traditional, organic? methods.