Originally Posted By: BEB
Can intentional crosses designed by man come any where close to being as good as what nature stumbles across?


Well, yes.

The grape varieties we see in commercial use, such as Cab Sauv, Syrah, Chardonnay etc etc are the result of natural crosses but the only reason they have survived is because man chose them to survive. All the thousands or millions of natural crosses that weren't selected because they were not good enough didn't survive.

All the crossing and hybridizing that has been and continues to be taking place all over the world produce hundreds of thousands of varieties that are eventually found to be not worthy. Those few that go into production, such as the recent Traminette, Marselan and Nouvelle, are very rare