Durif produces tannic wines with a spicy, plummy flavour. The grape originated as a cross of Syrah pollen germinating a Peloursin plant. On some occasions, Peloursin and Syrah vines may be called Petite Sirah, usually because the varieties are extremely difficult to distinguish in old age. In the 1860s the French botanist François Durif kept a nursery of several grape varieties at his home in the commune of Tullins where he most likely had plantings of both Peloursin and Syrah. At some point the two vines cross pollinated and Durif discovered a new grape variety growing in his nursery. It was
Petite mutation and exhibit Mendelian 1:1 segregation. Neutral petites (rho–N): Neutral petite when crossed to wild-type, all offspring are wild-type. It has inherited normal mitochondrial DNA from wild-type parent, which is replicated in the offspring. Suppressive petites (rho–S): crosses between petite and wild-type, all offspring are petite, showing "dominant" behavior to suppress wild-type mitochondrial function. Most petite mutants of "S. cerevisiae" are of a suppressive type, and they differ from neutral petite by affecting the wild-type, although both are a mutation in mitochondrial DNA. Mitochondrial genome of yeast will be the first eukaryotic genome to be understood in terms of both structure