Seibel grapes

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Seibel grapes are a group of wine grape varieties which originated with the work of French viticulturist Albert Seibel crossing European wine grape with American grape species to increase disease resistance. They were planted widely in France during the 1950s but have seen decline in recent years because French wine law prohibits hybrid grapes in appellation wine. The grapes are still commonly used as blending grapes in table wine and mass commercial wines. New Zealand, England, and Canada also have plantings of Seibel grapes. [1]

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Almost all of Albert Seibel's hybrid grapes were descended from only four parent grapes: two European grapes ( Vitis vinifera ), Aramon and Alicante Bouschet; one wild American grape, Jaeger 70 ( Vitis rupestris x Vitis lincecumii ); and one rootstock, AxR1, which was created by crossing Aramon with a wild American V. rupestris. Although Seibel bred tens of thousands of grapes, he did so almost entirely by crossing and re-crossing his original varieties, all of which were descended from the original four vines, so the basic gene pool of his collection remained largely unchanged.

Almost all later grapevine hybridizers, such as Bertille Seyve and his father-in-law Victor Villard, would simply breed one or two of Albert Seibel's grapes together and name their creations after themselves, such as Seyve-Villard 5276 ("Seyval Blanc"). [2]

List of some Seibel grapes and their common names

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

Aurore is a white complex hybrid grape variety produced by French viticulturist Albert Seibel and used for wine production mostly in the United States and Canada. Over a long lifetime, Seibel produced many complex hybrid crosses of Vitis vinifera to American grapes. The Aurore grape is a cross of Seibel 788 and Seibel 29.

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

Seyval blanc is a hybrid wine grape variety used to make white wines. Its vines ripen early, are productive and are suited to fairly cool climates. Seyval blanc is grown mainly in England, the United States east coast, in the Pacific Northwest (Oregon), as well as to a lesser extent in Canada. Seyval blanc was created either by Bertille Seyve, or his son-in-law Villard, as a cross of Seibel 5656 and Rayon d'Or, and was used to create the hybrid grape St. Pepin. Seyve and Villard used the same Rayon d'Or x Seibel 5656 crossing to produce the red wine grape Seyval noir.

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

Vitis rupestris is a species of grape native to the United States that is known by many common names including July, Coon, sand, sugar, beach, bush, currant, ingar, rock, and mountain grape. It is used for breeding several French-American hybrids as well as many root stocks.

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

Hybrid grapes are grape varieties that are the product of a crossing of two or more Vitis species. This is in contrast to crossings between grape varieties of the same species, typically Vitis vinifera, the European grapevine. Hybrid grapes are also referred to as inter-species crossings or "Modern Varieties." Due to their often excellent tolerance to powdery mildew, other fungal diseases, nematodes, and phylloxera, hybrid varieties have, to some extent, become a renewed focus for European breeding programs. The recently developed varieties are examples of newer hybrid grape varieties for European viticulturalists. Several North American breeding programs, such as those at Cornell and the University of Minnesota, focus exclusively on hybrid grapes, with active and successful programs, having created hundreds if not thousands of new varieties.

Jaeger 70 is a hybrid of two American species of grape, Vitis lincecumii and Vitis rupestris developed by Hermann Jaeger (1844–1895), a Swiss-American who settled in Missouri. He named the successful hybrid for his friend and fellow grape breeder, T.V. Munson. However the grape has become better known by Jaeger's selection number, 70. The grape's primary importance is as the female progenitor of many French - American hybrid grapes in the breeding program run by viticulturist Albert Seibel.

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

Aramon or Aramon noir is a variety of red wine grape grown primarily in Languedoc-Roussillon in southern France. Between the late 19th century and the 1960s, it was France's most grown grape variety, but plantings of Aramon have been in continuous decline since the mid-20th century. Aramon has also been grown in Algeria, Argentina and Chile but nowhere else did it ever reach the popularity it used to have in the south of France.

Villard grapes are French wine hybrid grape created by French horticulturist Bertille Seyve and his father-in-law Victor Villard. They include the dark-skinned Villard noir and the white-wine variety Villard blanc with both being members of the Seyve-Villard grape family. Villard noir is a cross of two other French hybrids, Siebel 6905 and Seibel 7053 created by physician and viticulturist Albert Seibel. Like Villard noir, Villard blanc was produced as a crossing of two Seibel grapes, in this case, Le Subereux and Seibel 6468.

Alicante Ganzin is a red French wine grape variety. Unlike most Vitis vinifera wine grapes, Alicante Ganzin is a teinturier with dark flesh that produces red juice. Most varieties used to produce red wine, such as Cabernet Sauvignon, Syrah, etc., have clear color flesh and juice with the wine receiving its color through a maceration process where the color seeps out of the grape skins for as long as they are in contact with the juice. Alicante Ganzin can thus produce light red and rose colored wine without maceration. It is believed that Alicante Ganzin is often described as the progenitor of all French teinturier grapes.

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

Olmo grapes are wine and table grape varieties produced by University of California, Davis viticulturist Dr. Harold Olmo. Over the course of his nearly 50-year career, Dr. Olmo bred a wide variety of both grapes by means of both crossing varieties from the same species or creating hybrid grapes from cultivars of different Vitis species.


Royalty is a rouge Californian wine grape variety that was developed in 1938 by Dr. Harold P. Olmo of the University of California, Davis. The grape is a red fleshed teinturier which, unlike most red wine grapes, will produce red-tinged colored wine even without maceration time on the skins. The grape is a hybrid being produced from the Vitis vinifera Trousseau gris variety from the Jura wine region of France and the teinturier grape Alicante Ganzin that, itself, is a hybrid of a Vitis rupestris variety and the Vitis vinifera grape Aramon.

Cascade is a red complex hybrid grape variety that was created by French viticulturist Albert Seibel in the early 20th century in Aubenas, Ardèche, in the Rhône Valley. It has been commercially available in North America since 1938 and has since been planted in Canada and the United States. However, in warmer climates, the grape is highly susceptible to a number of grapevine viruses, which has discouraged plantings of the variety.

Landot noir is a red hybrid grape variety that is a crossing of Landal and Villard blanc. Created after a series of trials between 1929-1949, the grape was introduced to Canada and the United States in the 1950s and today can be found in Quebec as well as New Hampshire where a varietal is produced by Jewell Towne Vineyards.

Ravat blanc is a white hybrid grape variety that is a crossing of Chardonnay and a Seibel grape. While the Vitis International Variety Catalogue (VIVC) maintained by the Geilweilerhof Institute for Grape Breeding list Seibel 5474 as the second parent, Master of Wine Jancis Robinson notes that other authors list Seibel 8724 as the parent. The grape is often confused with the white hybrid grape Vignoles that is often called just Ravat.

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 variety 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.

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

Muscat bleu is a red Swiss wine and table grape variety that is a hybrid of Garnier 15-6 and Perle noire. The grape was developed in Peissy in the Canton of Geneva by Swiss grape breeder Charles Garnier in the 1930s. Today the grape is used as both a table grape and for winemaking, producing wines that Master of Wine Jancis Robinson describe as "soft and grapey". Outside Switzerland some plantings of Muscat bleu can also be found in Belgium.

<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".

Flot rouge is a red hybrid grape that is a crossing of Munson and the Languedoc-Roussillon wine grape Aramon noir. The grape was created by French viticulturalist Albert Seibel and was crossed with the Seibel grape 405 to create Seibel 6150 which was one of the parent varieties for Colobel which is still grown in New York.

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vitis 'Ornamental Grape'</span> Nonfruiting ornamental plant

Vitis 'Ornamental Grape', also known as ornamental grapevine, Ganzin glory, glory vine and crimson glory, is a nonfruiting ornamental plant that is a hybrid of Vitis vinifera and Vitis rupestris.

References

  1. J. Robinson Vines, Grapes & Wines p. 207, Mitchell Beazley 1986 ISBN   1-85732-999-6.
  2. P. Galet A Practical Ampelography p. 221. Cornell University Press 1979 ISBN   0-8014-1240-4.

See also