Latin term for scion or offspring, used by the Russian researcher Dr. Alexander Mikhailovic Negrul (1900-1971) as the name for his grape variety classification. There were always attempts to find a grouping based on geographical origin, use (wine grapes and table grapes) or external characteristics. Negrul was also concerned with this and finally created three ecological-geographical groups from 1946 to 1958 on the basis of studies on Russian varieties, which he called Proles. This classification is based, among other things, on the differentiation of the hairs on the undersides of the leaves during shoots. However, this system is not based on botany, but on geography. That is, the (presumed) origin or occurrence was used.
The first group Proles pontica covers the area from the Balkans via Asia Minor and the Black Sea region to the western Caucasus with Bessarabia (that is today's Moldavia as well as parts of the Ukraine), Georgia, Greece, Asia Minor (Anmatolia, part of Turkey), Romania and Hungary. These are, for example, the varieties Clairette, Furmint, Hárslevelű and Korinthiaki. The second group Proles orientalis includes varieties east of the Caucasus from Afghanistan, Iran and the Middle East (Subproles Caspica) and a group of table grapes with Mediterranean distribution, which were mainly bred and distributed by the Arabs (Subproles antiasiatica). Most of these are table gra pes, such as the two varieties Muscat d'Alexandrie and Sultana, but also the wine grape Cinsaut. The third group Proles occidentalis includes Central Europe, Italy, France and Spain. These include, for example, Cabernet Sauvignon, Chardonnay and Riesling.
However, this grouping into regional leading varieties with certain common group characteristics cannot be satisfactory, as too many varieties do not fit into this scheme. Although Negrul's classification scheme may apply to a core of selected regional varieties, too many varieties have been moved over the millennia to new growing areas where they have spread and crossed further. A typical example of this is the variety Gouais Blanc or White Heunisch, which probably belongs to the Pontic Proles, and which has crossed with numerous European varieties over several centuries, so that the more than 100 resulting varieties such as Blaufränkisch, Chardonnay or Riesling, including their descendants, can hardly be classified in a regional differentiation scheme. This is why this typification is hardly taken into account in Proles today. In 1988, the French ampelographer Pierre Galet (1921-2019) proposed a continuation of this classification, which disregards geographical aspects and is based only on three types of pubescence (woolly, clinging, cobwebby). See also under vine systematics and grapevine.
