THE Spanish are at fault for a mix-up that saw the CSIRO supply Australian vineyards with the wrong variety for a decade.

Australian wineries that thought they had planted the promising Spanish variety albarino had in fact been supplied with the almost unheard of French variety savagnin blanc, not to be confused with sauvignon blanc.

The mistake carried on for a decade in Australia, despite initial evidence of mis-identification in Spain in 1998, and the issue having been debated since 1985.

The head of Spain's largest vine collection this week admitted the mix-up was the result of a mistake at his vine nursery in 1951, and that vines sold by the collection as albarino between 1955 and 1984 were in fact savagnin.

But local winemakers say it makes little difference who made the original mistake and are not letting CSIRO off the hook.

Crittenden Estate winemaker Rollo Crittenden, who planted savagnin in his Mornington Peninsula vineyard believing it to be albarino, said he had to "pick up the pieces" regardless.

"Given it was one country's wine body talking to another, you'd assume what's being provided is the correct variety," Mr Crittenden said.

"But should CSIRO have put faith in another country's work?

"I still think CSIRO should have done their homework . . . what CSIRO does affects so many people in Australia, and when DNA testing was available (it should have been done)."

Mr Crittenden said the Spanish error was a "massive stuff-up" and asked how the Spanish planned to deal with it.

However, he was positive about the future of savagnin blanc.

"In spite of the name issue, it does have proven track record for fantastic wines," Mr Crittenden said. "We will have to get the new name out there, but fortunately the media has been very sympathetic."

CSIRO plant industry deputy chief Dr TJ Higgins said the Spanish admission was no surprise.

Asked if CSIRO should still have carried out testing to ensure the vines supplied were in fact albarino, he said: "That's a difficult question."

"We didn't have DNA testing at that stage," Dr Higgins said.

"We're still working with industry to try to find a solution to this, to get this clarified for the future."