🍇 Rondo

Rondo is a red grape variety bred in Germany. The breeder Helmut Becker of the Geisenheim grape breeding institute made the cross in 1964; one of the parents is Saint Laurent. VIVC lists Rondo as a wine and table grape and notes that it carries the Rpv10 locus for resistance to downy mildew.

For a long time the variety had only a breeding number, and Geisenheim 6494-5 and Gm 6494-5 are still among its synonyms. Rondo's origin was checked with DNA markers: Saint Laurent is indeed its parent. New breeding lines already descend from Rondo itself, such as Allegro (Chancellor × Rondo).

There is little Rondo in Germany itself: according to VIVC, 4 ha in 2000 and 11 ha in 2020. It is more visible in the northern countries. Denmark had 20 ha (2010), and the technical file of the regional wine Jylland (Jutland) includes Rondo in its list of grapes alongside Solaris and Regent. It is also on the list of grapes for the English appellation English.

Rondo is thus an example of a grape created for cool regions: it is valued where few red varieties ripen, and its mildew resistance helps in a damp climate.

Why it matters to you. Look for Rondo among the wines of Denmark and England, where the grape is on the official appellation lists. A grape named on an EU wine label means at least 85 % of that grape. Red wines are served at 15–18 °C and stored lying down, in the dark, at 10–16 °C.