by Audrey Vizena

Vitis labrusca belongs to Sub-genus Euvites, Family Vitaceae, Order Rhamnales, and Phylum Terebinthates-Rubiates

General Information

The concord, as V. Labrusca is known, is the grape of New York state, admired among grape jelly lovers and tolerated by connoisseurs This grape is described as oozing the musky smell of a wet, cheap fur coat, hence the name "fox grape", as it is also known (Robinson, 1986). The vine is named after Concord, Massachusetts by Ephraim W. Bull. Only about a fifth of all the hectares of concord grown in New York is made into wine. The resulting wine is rather lurid, deep pink, usually quite sweet, and has helped many Americans on to wine drinking (Robinson, 1986).

Identification

Vitis labrusca is a vigorous, large leafed variety with dark purple or reddish fruit (Everett, 1990). It is classified as a bunch grape, which refers to the fact that these cultivations have berries borne in a cluster and have a concentrated harvest period during which the entire cluster, or bunch is harvested as a uniformly ripe intact unit(Galletta, 1990).

Geography

Labrusca grows mainly east of the Appalachian mountains in a zone extending from New England to South Carolina (Blij, 1981). However, it can be cultivated in most of North America east of the Rocky Mountains. It is native from New England and New York to Georgia and Tennessee (Everett, 1990).

References

Blij, H. (1981). Geography of Viticulture. Miami Geograpical Society.
Everett T.H. (Ed.) (1990). New Illustrated Encyclopedia of Gardening. New York, NY: Greystone Press

Galletta, G.J. (Ed.). (1990). Small Fruit Crop Management. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall

Robinson, J. (1986). Vines, Grapes, and Wines. London: Mitcheell Beazley