Catawba (grape)

Catawba
Grape (Vitis)
A bottle of Ohio Catawba wine
Color of berry skinRouge
SpeciesVitis labrusca × Vitis vinifera "Sémillon"[1]
Also calledSee list of synonyms
OriginUnited States
VIVC number2346

Catawba is a red American grape variety used for wine as well as juice, jams and jellies. 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.[2][3] Its exact origins are unclear but it seems to have originated somewhere on the East coast from the Carolinas to Maryland.

Catawba played an important role in the early history of American wine. During the early to mid-19th century, it was the most widely planted grape variety in the country and was the grape behind Nicholas Longworth's acclaimed Ohio sparkling wines that were distributed as far away as California and Europe.

Catawba is a late-ripening variety, ripening often weeks after many other labrusca varieties and, like many vinifera varieties, it can be susceptible to fungal grape diseases such as powdery mildew.[4]

  1. ^ Huber, Franziska; Röckel, Franco; Schwander, Florian; Maul, Erika; Eibach, Rudolf; Cousins, Peter; Töpfer, Reinhard (2016). "A view into American grapevine history: Vitis vinifera cv. 'Sémillon' is an ancestor of 'Catawba' and 'Concord'". Vitis - Journal of Grapevine Research. 55 (2): 53–56. doi:10.5073/vitis.2016.55.53-56. S2CID 87513053.
  2. ^ Sawler J, Reisch B, Aradhya MK, Prins B, Zhong GY, et al. (2013). "Genomics Assisted Ancestry Deconvolution in Grape". PLOS ONE. 8 (11): e80791. Bibcode:2013PLoSO...880791S. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0080791. PMC 3823699. PMID 24244717.
  3. ^ Huber F, et al. (2016). "A view into American grapevine history: Vitis vinifera cv. 'Sémillon' is an ancestor of 'Catawba' and 'Concord'". Vitis. 55 (11): 53–56. doi:10.5073/vitis.2016.55.53-56.
  4. ^ Growing Grapes in the Home Fruit Planting, Ohio State University Extension Fact Sheet, accessed 2011-01-14