Muscadine | |
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Scientific classification ![]() | |
Kingdom: | Plantae |
Clade: | Tracheophytes |
Clade: | Angiosperms |
Clade: | Eudicots |
Clade: | Rosids |
Order: | Vitales |
Family: | Vitaceae |
Genus: | Vitis |
Subgenus: | Vitis subg. Muscadinia |
Species: | V. rotundifolia |
Binomial name | |
Vitis rotundifolia | |
Vitis rotundifolia, or muscadine, [1] is a grapevine species native to the southeastern and south-central United States. [2] The growth range extends from Florida to New Jersey coast, and west to eastern Texas and Oklahoma. [3] It has been extensively cultivated since the 16th century. [4] The plants are well-adapted to their native warm and humid climate; they need fewer chilling hours than better known varieties, and thrive in summer heat.
Muscadine berries may be bronze or dark purple or black when ripe. [5] Wild varieties may stay green through maturity. Muscadines are typically used in making artisan wines, juice, hull pie and jelly. They are rich sources of polyphenols. [6]
In a natural setting, muscadine provides wildlife habitat as shelter, browse, and food for many birds and animals. [2] It is also a larval host for the Nessus Sphinx Moth ( Amphion floridensis ) and the Mournful Sphinx Moth ( Enyo lugubris ). [7]
Although in the same genus Vitis with the other grapevine species, the muscadine species belongs to a separate subgenus, Muscadinia (all other grapevine species belong to subgenus Euvitis ). Usually the species is divided into three varieties, Vitis rotundifolia Michx. var. rotundifolia (southeast USA), Vitis rotundifolia Michx. var. munsoniana (Florida), and Vitis rotundifolia Michx. var. popenoei (Central America). [8] Some taxonomists have suggested giving the muscadines standing as a separate genus. It has also been suggested that the muscadine varieties be upgraded to species rank and so splitting off Vitis munsoniana and Vitis popenoei from Vitis rotundifolia. All muscadines have 40 chromosomes, rather than 38, are generally not cross-compatible with Euvitis subgenus, and most hybrids between the subgenera are sterile. A few are moderately fertile, and have been used in breeding. A commercially available Euvitis × Muscadinia hybrid is the Southern Home cultivar. [9] [2]
Although muscadines are hearty grapes with tough skin that protects them from many plant diseases, these grapes nonetheless appear to be susceptible to parasitic nematodes. [10]
There are about 152 [11] muscadine cultivars grown in the Southern states. [12] These include bronze, black and red varieties and consist of common grapes and patented grapes. [13]
Unlike most cultivated grapevines, many muscadine cultivars are pistillate, requiring a pollenizer to set fruit. A few, such as 'Carlos' and 'Noble', are perfect-flowered, produce fruit with their own pollen, and may also pollinate pistillate cultivars. [12]
Muscadine grape cultivars may have low or inconsistent yields, small berries, flavor and thick skin unsuitable to consumer acceptance, and disease susceptibility. [2] Cultivars tend to be developed either for a limited fresh market or for winemaking. [2] For consumer acceptance, fresh market grapes need to be large, sweet, and with relatively thin skin, whereas those for wine, juice or jelly need high yields of high-sugar, color-stable berries. [2]
Fresh-market cultivars include Black Beauty, Carlos, Cowart, Flowers, Fry, Granny Val, Ison, James, Jumbo, Magnolia, Memory (first found on T.S. Memory's farm in 1868 in Whiteville, NC), Mish, Nesbitt, Noble, Scuppernong, Summit, Supreme, and Thomas. [2] [13] [14] Produced by the University of Florida, the cultivar, 'Southern Home', contains both subgenera Muscadinia and Euvitis (more precisely, V. rotundifolia × V. vinifera) in its background. [2] [9]
Crops can be started in 3–5 years. Commercial yields of 20–45 tonnes per hectare (8–18 tons per acre) are possible. Muscadines grow best in fertile sandy loam and alluvial soils. They grow wild in well-drained bottom lands that are not subject to extended drought or waterlogging. They are also resistant to pests and diseases, including Pierce's disease, which can destroy other grape species. Muscadine is one of the grape species most resistant to Phylloxera , an insect that can kill roots of grapevines. [15]
Appellations producing Muscadine wines: [16]
100 grams of muscadine grapes contain the following nutrients according to the USDA: [15]
Consumer research indicates that the thick skins and variable in-season quality of fresh muscadine grapes are significant deterrents to retail acceptance. [17] [13]
One report indicated that muscadine grapes contained high concentrations of resveratrol, [18] but subsequent studies have found no or little resveratrol in muscadine grapes. [6]
Other muscadine polyphenols include anthocyanins, tannins, and various flavonoids. [6] [19] [20]
The rank order of total phenolic content among muscadine components was found to be seeds, higher than skins, higher than leaves, higher than pulp. [6]
A grape is a fruit, botanically a berry, of the deciduous woody vines of the flowering plant genus Vitis. Grapes are a non-climacteric type of fruit, generally occurring in clusters.
The Concord grape is a cultivar derived from the grape species Vitis labrusca that are used as table grapes, wine grapes and juice grapes. They are often used to make grape jelly, grape juice, grape pies, grape-flavored soft drinks, and candy. The grape is sometimes used to make wine, particularly sacramental and kosher wine. Traditionally, most commercially produced Concord wines have been finished sweet, but dry versions are possible if adequate fruit ripeness is achieved. The grape is named after the town in Massachusetts where it was developed. The grapes are cultivated in many different parts of the world now.
Chambourcin is a variety of grapevine belonging to the Vitis genus in the flowering plant family Vitaceae. It is a French-American interspecific hybrid grape variety used for making wine. Its parentage is uncertain, but genetic studies show it likely includes several North American Vitis species in its background including: V. berlandieri Planch., V. labrusca L., V. lincecumii Buckley, V. riparia Michx., V. rupestris Scheele, and V. vinifera. The hybrid was produced by Joannes Seyve who often used Seibel hybrids produced in the 1860s. The grape has only been available since 1963; it has a good resistance to fungal disease, and is one of the parents of the new disease resistant variety, Regent, which is increasing in popularity among German grape growers.
Vitis vinifera, the common grape vine, is a species of flowering plant, native to the Mediterranean region, Central Europe, and southwestern Asia, from Morocco and Portugal north to southern Germany and east to northern Iran. As of 2012, there were between 5,000 and 10,000 varieties of Vitis vinifera grapes though only a few are of commercial significance for wine and table grape production.
The scuppernong is a large variety of muscadine, a species of grape native to the Southern United States. It is usually a greenish or bronze color and is similar in appearance and texture to a white grape, but rounder and larger and first known as the 'big white grape'. The grape is commonly known as the "scuplin" in some areas of the Deep South. It is also known as the "scufalum", "scupanon", "scupadine", "scuppernine", "scupnun", or "scufadine" in some parts of the South. The scuppernong is the state fruit of North Carolina.
Norton is grown in the Midwestern United States, the Mid-Atlantic States, and northeastern Georgia. DNA data are consistent with 'Norton' being a hybrid with ancestry including V. aestivalis and V. vinifera.
Catawba is a red American grape variety used for wine as well as juice, jams and jellies. The grape can have a pronounced musky or "foxy" flavor. Grown predominantly on the East Coast of the United States, this purplish-red grape is a likely a hybrid of the native American Vitis labrusca and the Vitis vinifera cultivar Semillon. Its exact origins are unclear but it seems to have originated somewhere on the East coast from the Carolinas to Maryland.
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.
Vitis aestivalis, the summer grape, or pigeon grape is a species of grape native to eastern North America from southern Ontario east to Maine, west to Oklahoma, and south to Florida and Texas. It is a vigorous vine, growing to 10 m or more high in trees. The leaves are 7–20 cm long, suborbicular, and usually a little broader than long; they are variable in shape, from unlobed to deeply three- or five-lobed, green above, and densely hairy below. The flowers are produced at every 3rd node in a dense panicle 5–15 cm long. The fruit is a small grape 5–14 mm diameter, dark purple or black in colour. It is the official state grape of Missouri. Summer grape prefers a drier upland habitat.
Chelois is a variety of hybrid grape used in the production of red wines. The fruit are small blue-black berries, which appear in compact, medium-sized clusters. Chelois is among the less hardy hybrids of red-wine grapes.
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.
Vitis (grapevine) is a genus of 81 accepted species of vining plants in the flowering plant family Vitaceae. The genus consists of species predominantly from the Northern Hemisphere. It is economically important as the source of grapes, both for direct consumption of the fruit and for fermentation to produce wine. The study and cultivation of grapevines is called viticulture.
Mississippi wine refers to wine made from grapes grown in the U.S. state of Mississippi. The hot and humid climate of Mississippi makes it very difficult to cultivate vitis vinifera or French hybrid grapes. The three commercial wineries in Mississippi focus almost entirely on the Muscadine grape, a variety also used for non-alcoholic grape juices, jams, and jellies. Most of the Mississippi Delta AVA, a designated American Viticultural Area, lies within the state boundaries of Mississippi.
Florida wine refers to wine made from grapes and other fruit grown in the U.S. state of Florida. Wine grapes were grown in Florida earlier than anywhere else in North America.
The phenolic content in wine refers to the phenolic compounds—natural phenol and polyphenols—in wine, which include a large group of several hundred chemical compounds that affect the taste, color and mouthfeel of wine. These compounds include phenolic acids, stilbenoids, flavonols, dihydroflavonols, anthocyanins, flavanol monomers (catechins) and flavanol polymers (proanthocyanidins). This large group of natural phenols can be broadly separated into two categories, flavonoids and non-flavonoids. Flavonoids include the anthocyanins and tannins which contribute to the color and mouthfeel of the wine. The non-flavonoids include the stilbenoids such as resveratrol and phenolic acids such as benzoic, caffeic and cinnamic acids.
This glossary of viticultural terms list some of terms and definitions involved in growing grapes for use in winemaking.
δ-Viniferin is a resveratrol dehydrodimer. It is an isomer of epsilon-viniferin. It can be isolated from stressed grapevine leaves. It is also found in plant cell cultures and wine. It can also be found in Rheum maximowiczii.
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.
Allorhizobium vitis is a plant pathogen that infects grapevines. The species is best known for causing a tumor known as crown gall disease. One of the virulent strains, A. vitis S4, is responsible both for crown gall on grapevines and for inducing a hypersensitive response in other plant species. Grapevines that have been affected by crown gall disease produce fewer grapes than unaffected plants. Though not all strains of A. vitis are tumorigenic, most strains can damage plant hosts.