Ives noir

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Ives noir
Grape (Vitis)
Ives grape.jpg
Photographic plate of Ives grape from the book The Grapes of New York, 1908 by Ulysses Prentiss Hedrick
Color of berry skinRed
Species Hybrid grape
Origin Ohio in 1844
VIVC number 5592

Ives noir is a red hybrid grape variety that is grown throughout the United States. Named after its propagator, Connecticut wine grower Henry Ives, the grape's pedigree and exact origin are unclear. After Prohibition in the United States, Ives was a popular grape used in the production of sweet, port-style wines but saw its plantings steadily decrease throughout the 20th century as the vine's susceptibility to air pollution took its toll. [1]

Contents

History and pedigree

While Ives noir was a popular grape after the end of Prohibition, the vine's susceptibility to air pollution caused plantings of the variety to decline throughout the 20th century. Pollution de l'air.jpg
While Ives noir was a popular grape after the end of Prohibition, the vine's susceptibility to air pollution caused plantings of the variety to decline throughout the 20th century.

According to the Vitis International Variety Catalogue (VIVC), the grape was first developed in Ohio in 1844 from a crossing of an unknown Vitis species and Hartford Proflic (itself a crossing of an unknown Vitis labrusca vine and Isabella that was developed in Connecticut). [2] [3] The National Grape Registry maintained by the University of California, Davis lists 1850 as the release date. [4] Writings from Henry Ives himself date the crossing to 1840. However, the earliest record of Hartford Prolific being cultivated dates back to 1846 [1] with the VIVC dating the crossing even later, to 1849. [3]

This inconsistency puts the pedigree of Ives noir in question. In other writings, Henry Ives claimed that he cultivated the grape from a seedling of a Vitis vinifera variety called either "Malaga" or "Madeira" but ampelographers as early as the late 19th century found little evidence to support any vinifera pedigree or relationship to the Malaga wine grapes Pedro Ximénez and Moscatel or the traditional Madeira wine grapes of Malvasia, Bual, Verdelho, Sercial, Terrantez and Bastardo.

Employing an extensive set of microsatellite DNA markers, de Oliveira's research group in São Paulo, Brazil, revealed in a 2020 publication, that the Bordô hybrid cultivar (a.k.a. Gran d'Oro in Brazil) is identical to the Ives' Seedling cultivar (a.k.a. Ives noir) from the US.

Dr. Jeronimo (Jerry) Rodrigues (South Africa) further analysed Ives' microsatellite DNA which can now be downloaded from the Vitis International Variety Catalogue (VIVC) database (Maul and Röckel, 2015). He determined that Ives noir, which has long been thought to be a natural hybrid between a wild Vitis labrusca species and an unknown Vitis vinifera variety is, in fact, far more likely to be a hybrid cultivar resulting from a crossing between wild native American species involving mainly V. labrusca and V. aestivalis, rather than V. vinifera. [5]

Ives noir was widely established in the eastern United States by the end of Prohibition in the 1930s when the grape became popular with wineries making sweet fortified wines. However, by the end of the 20th century, plantings of the grape were declining significantly as the toll of air pollution in the United States resulted in crop failure for the sensitive vine. [1]

Viticulture

Ives noir is a mid-ripening variety that usually ripens after Concord. The vine is very sensitive to air pollution, ozone damage as well as sulphur-based sprays (such as the Bordeaux mixture used to combat powdery and downy mildew). When not grafted to more vigorous rootstock, Ives noir tend to produce a shallow and weak root system that also makes the vine very susceptible to water stress which may require irrigation in drought conditions. [1]

Wine regions

Ives noir shares many similarities to the Vitis labrusca grape variety Concord (pictured). Concord Grapes on vines.jpg
Ives noir shares many similarities to the Vitis labrusca grape variety Concord (pictured).

Today Ives noir is planted mostly in the Eastern United States and in the Southern States of Brazil where the variety is known as Bordô or Terci. [6] Plantings in New York State were significantly impacted by downwind air pollution from Michigan and Ohio but as Clean Air Act standards enforced by the United States Environmental Protection Agency take effect, plantings of the variety have slowly started to recover with 50 acres (20 hectares) of Ives noir in production as of 1996. [1]

Outside of New York there were 15 acres (6 hectares) of Ives noir in production in Arkansas, including some old vine plantings that were over 50 years old, as well as smaller plantings in New Jersey and Pennsylvania. [1]

Styles and uses

In addition to winemaking, Ives noir is also used in grape juice and jelly production. According to Master of Wine Jancis Robinson, the grape shares many similarities to Concord, including the characterized "foxy" note of Vitis labrusca grapes, but usually with a slightly lighter color. Ives noir is used as both a blending and varietal grape making wines from a range of sweetness styles from dry to semi-sweet blush wines and to sweet fortified wines. [1]

Synonyms

Over the years Ives noir has been known under a variety of synonyms including: Black Ives, Bordô or Terci [6] (in Brazil), Ives Madeira, Ives' Madeira Seedling, Ives Seedling and Kittredge. [1] [2]

Related Research Articles

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Agawam (grape)</span> Variety of grape

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Baco blanc</span> Variety of grape

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<i>Vitis labrusca</i> Species of grapevine

Vitis labrusca, the fox grape, is a species of grapevines belonging to the Vitis genus in the flowering plant family Vitaceae. The vines are native to eastern North America and are the source of many grape cultivars, including Catawba, Concord, Delaware, Isabella, Niagara, and many hybrid grape varieties such as Agawam, Alexander and Onaka. Among the characteristics of this vine species in contrast to the European wine grape Vitis vinifera are its "slip-skin" that allows the skin of the grape berries to easily slip off when squeezed, instead of crushing the pulp, and the presence of tendrils on every node of the cane. Another contrast with European vinifera is the characteristic "foxy" musk of V. labrusca, best known to most people through the Concord grape. This musk is not related to the mammalian fox, but rather to the strong, earthy aromas characteristic of the grapes that were known by early European-American settlers in the New World. The term "foxy" became a sort of catchall for the wine tasting descriptors used for these American wines that were distinct from the familiar flavors of the European viniferous wines.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hybrid grape</span> Variety of grape

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Couderc noir is a red wine hybrid grape that was formerly grown primarily in the South West France wine region and around the Gard département in the Languedoc-Roussillon region. The vine produces high yields and ripens late, creating a wine that is deeply colored with a distinct, earthy flavor. Couderc noir is normally used for mass commercial and table wines.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Isabella (grape)</span> Variety of grape

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Seyval noir is a red hybrid grape variety that was created in the late 19th century by French horticulturalist Bertille Seyve and his father-in-law Victor Villard from a crossing of two Seibel grapes. The pair used the same two varieties to create the white wine grape Seyval blanc, making the two siblings rather than color mutations of one or the other. The name Seyval comes from a combination of the two men's names.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Muscat bleu</span> Variety of grape

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">L'Acadie blanc</span> Variety of grape

L'Acadie blanc is a white Canadian wine grape variety that is a hybrid crossing of Cascade and Seyve-Villard 14-287. The grape was created in 1953 by grape breeder Ollie A. Bradt in Niagara, Ontario at the Vineland Horticultural Research Station, which is now the Vineland Research and Innovation Centre. Today the grape is widely planted in Nova Scotia with some plantings in Quebec and Ontario. Some wine writers, including those at Appellation America, consider L'Acadie blanc as "Nova Scotia’s equivalent to Chardonnay".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Propagation of grapevines</span>

The propagation of grapevines is an important consideration in commercial viticulture and winemaking. Grapevines, most of which belong to the Vitis vinifera family, produce one crop of fruit each growing season with a limited life span for individual vines. While some centenarian old vine examples of grape varieties exist, most grapevines are between the ages of 10 and 30 years. As vineyard owners seek to replant their vines, a number of techniques are available which may include planting a new cutting that has been selected by either clonal or mass (massal) selection. Vines can also be propagated by grafting a new plant vine upon existing rootstock or by layering one of the canes of an existing vine into the ground next to the vine and severing the connection when the new vine develops its own root system.

Landal noir is a red hybrid grape variety that was created during a series of trials between 1929 and 1942 by French grape breeder Pierre Landot at his Conzieu nursery in the Ain department of eastern France. The grape is a crossing of two Seibel grapes, Plantet and Seibel 8216. While authorized for use in several French wine growing region, the grape is officially not recommended for use in any quality wine production in France with only 49 hectares of the variety reported in 2008. Outside France, some plantings of Landal noir can be found in Switzerland, Canada and the United States.

Blanc du Bois is an American hybrid grape that was created in 1968 by John A. Mortensen at the University of Florida’s Central Florida Research and Education Center in Leesburg, Florida. Mortensen created this variety by crossing various Vitis vinifera grape varieties such as Golden Muscat with native Florida varieties. When released in 1987, Blanc du Bois became another grape variety in the small but growing number of vine types that can both produce marketable wine on their own yet can withstand Pierce's Disease, a bacterial infection that destroys nearly all vinifera vinestocks imported into the southern United States.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 J. Robinson, J. Harding and J. Vouillamoz Wine Grapes - A complete guide to 1,368 vine varieties, including their origins and flavours pg 477, Allen Lane 2012 ISBN   978-1-846-14446-2
  2. 1 2 Vitis International Variety Catalogue (VIVC) Ives noir Archived 2014-11-03 at the Wayback Machine Accessed: April 20th, 2013
  3. 1 2 Vitis International Variety Catalogue (VIVC) Hartford Archived 2014-11-03 at the Wayback Machine Accessed: April 20th, 2013
  4. National Grape Registry "Ives noir Archived 2010-06-11 at the Wayback Machine " Accessed: April 20th, 2013
  5. "Ives' Seedling hybrid cultivar is totally American - DNA fingerprinting results show".
  6. 1 2 Embrapa - Official Site Accessed: December 26th, 2014