Aromas and Tastes of Hybrid and Native Wines

Catawba is a wild cross of the native American Vitis labrusca and Vitis vinifera and thus has a “foxy” taste about midway between a Concord and a vitis vinifera grape. It is a red grape but usually made into a pink wine because of low anthocyanins in skin.

Leon Milot grapes in the U.S. are often made into a wine similar to Beaujolais although a little more earthy than fruity. Beaujolais is an acidic, relatively lower tannin and berry flavored wine from the Burgundy area of France.

Concord is a dark blue or purple grape of species Vitis labrusca, native to North America and also called fox grape. It has strong “foxy” or grapey aromas and tastes.

Norton is a cross between a vitis aestivalis (Summer Grape) and an obscure vitis vinifera Pinot grape. It does not have any of the foxiness taste of many American native hybrids.

Vidal is a white hybrid grape variety produced from the Vitis vinifera variety, Ugni blanc (also known as Trebbiano), and an interspecies crossing with Rayon d’Or.

The Delaware grape is a pale red almost pinkish cultivar, derived from the grape species Vitis Labrusca or ‘Fox Grape’ crossed in the wild with probably vitis vinifera. Its “foxy” taste is between a Concord and a vitis vinifera wine but slightly less than a Catawba wine.

Developed from crosses of the hybrids Schuyler and Seyval Blanc at Cornell University, It usually tastes of apple flavors unless it is allowed to get overripe. then some Lambrusca flavors come out.

Steuben is a native hybrid grape of the lambrusca family but with milder, lighter “foxy” tastes than a Concord. It is often made into a blush or rosé wine.

A crossing of Concord and Iona, this white grape is not as “foxy” as Concord but makes a full bodied wine.

Marquette is a cousin of Frontenac and grandson of Pinot Noir. It originated from a cross of MN 1094, a complex hybrid of V. riparia, V. vinifera, and other Vitis species, with Ravat 262.