sweet German wines, such as Liebfraumilch and Piesporter, which were quite popular up until the 1980s. The turning point in Müller-Thurgau's growth however was the winter of 1979, when on 1 January there was a sharp fall in temperatures, to 20 °F (−7 °C) in many areas, which devastated most of the new varieties, but did not affect the varieties such as Riesling which have much more hardy stems, after hundreds of years of selection. In the decades since then, the winemakers have begun to grow a wider variety of vines, and Müller-Thurgau is now less widely planted in Germany than Riesling, although still significant in that country and worldwide. While the total German plantations of Müller-Thurgau are declining, the variety is still in third place among new plantations in Germany, after Riesling and Pinot noir, with around 8% of all new plantations in the years 2006-2008. Genealogy Recent DNA fingerprinting has in fact determined that the grape was created by crossing Riesling with Madeleine Royale, not Silvaner or any other suggested grape variety. But there has been some confusion on the way. In 1996, Chasselas seemed to be a valid candidate, and in 1997 the Chasselas variety Admirable de Courtiller was specified. However, this was shown to be wrong when the reference grape that was believed to be Admirable de Courtiller was proven in the year 2000 to be Madeleine Royale. Madeleine Royale was long believed to be a Chasselas seedling, but modern DNA fingerprinting methods suggest that it is actually a crossing of Pinot and Trollinger. German growing regions As of 2019, German regional plantings stood at: Rheinhessen, 4,084 ha Baden, Palatinate, Franconia, Mosel, Nahe, Saale-Unstrut, Outside of Germany, the grape has achieved a moderate degree of success in producing lively wines in Italy, southern England (where most other grapes will not ripen in many years) Luxembourg (where it is called Rivaner), Czech Republic, and the United States. In Germany, it has long been common to blend Müller-Thurgau with Bacchus, or small amounts of Morio Muscat to enhance its flavours. Both are highly aromatic which don't work very well in varietal wines on their own because of a lack of acidity or structure. Growing regions Europe Hungary, 8,000 ha (20,000 acres) Belgium, 0.5 ha at Château Bon Baron in Lustin. It is authorised for all still wine AOCs : Côtes de Sambre et Meuse, Hageland, Haspengouw, et Heuvelland.