French wine scientists have come up with four revolutionary supergrape varieties they say are impervious to rot and thus require almost no pesticides.

But purists have warned that the lab-grown creations, which mix grape genes from around the world, could lead to dumbed-down, low-grade “Frankenstein” wine for future generations.

At first glance, the red and white grapes growing at the National Institue of Agronomical Research (Inra) in Colmar, eastern France, look like just any other you might find in this part of the world.

Yet these are a very different, revolutionary breed of grape grown in the laboratory under a programme called “Resdur."

The aim is to be “durably resistant” to fungal attack by winemakers’ two sworn enemies: downy and powdery mildew.

In recent months, Inra scientists received state authorisation to grow four varieties of resistant grape called Araban, Floreal, Voltis and Vidoc which will lead to wine bottled by 2020.