Phil Knight Legacy Basketball Event

I may be remembering wrong, but I believe at one time there was some type of disease that hit the French grapes, and they used American rootstock (Zin I think)

 

Southern US native rootstocks were originally used. Now hybrids of several native to the southern US roostocks are used.

Phylloxera is caused by a nasty insect pest native to the southern US that has spread worldwide. Evolution caused some of the native Southern US rootstocks to be resistant.

 

Now you've done it. Went and used the e-word.

 

I've got wild muscadine grapes that started growing unbidden on my fence a few years ago. This is the first year they produced seedy fruit (ripened in July). Not a great deal of them, and the grapes were all pea-size. But they were edible and sweet. I'm hoping next year and the year after, there will be a lot more fruit. Maybe some day the vines will produce enough for me to attempt some bad wine-making.
For the last couple of years, I've used the new, tender leaves (easy to know because they're shiny) as greens on sandwiches and in salads. And they're available almost all year. Also, a couple of months ago, I made stuffed grape leaves using the largest older leaves.
Nature's bounty. I also pick woodsorrel and spiderwort from my yard for the edible greens.

 

Do you know why there aren't any good wines made from native grapes? It is because they have a flavor component that is described as "foxy". Now, what the heck is wrong with being foxy? Hendrix wrote a song, and I don't think it was about a flawed woman.

If you have ever been to a zoo where there is a fox exhibit, you can get a whiff that reminds you of dead skunk. I believe that is what they are talking about. Native grapes have a "musky" aroma. They also have really tough skins and a section inside that pops out when you bite into them.

You either love native grapes (muscadine especially) or you despise them. There really aren't any fence-sitters. I absolutely LOVE them. And the skins keep you VERY regular.

 

Scuppernong is good in Florida because they are thick-skinned and can take the heat and humidity. My muscadine grapes are pretty thin-skinned. Like me. Flavor is fine. Doesn't taste at all like a fox.

 

Yes, it is, along with the bug that destroyed all of the roots of the old world vines. To save those varietals, they had to be grafted into new world rootstock, which was naturally resistant to Phylloxera. So, not only did we save the French in 2 world wars, we saved their wine industry in the Nineteenth century.

 

I was not aware of that. I would be interested to know if there was any flavor profile difference.

 

Good question. Pickup of minerals from the soil might be different.

 

I’m guessing not since you can graft a lemon an orange and a lime on citrus rootstock and grow them all on the same tree.

 

I won't ask how you know what a fox tastes like. I will just let it lie.

I believe the profile comes when it is fermented rather than the taste of the grape.

Or it is merely another sign of snooty French.

 

We didn't save the French in the first world war. They fought hard as hell. And they beat the British for us in 1781. Let's call it even.

 

A lot goes into fermentation of grapes and how they taste as wine. When to harvest is vitally important. How much skin contact is allowed, how the clusters are culled and if the grapes are destemmed or not are huge. Also the kind of vessel in which it is fermented and the kind of barrels used for aging. It is both an art and a science. One can get a degree from UC Davis on the science part of it. The art part is learned from experience.

 

My alma mater also has a highly respected Oenology department---many of the winemakers and vinyard owners are graduates. Apparently a very difficult major--they had to learn botany, etc, but also a lot of business courses. Only 2-3 graduate each year.

 

The only oenology courses I took at UF were from Bunky and Wade (Wine and Cheese Gallery) as evening fun courses and not for credit.

 

I took that course. The Oenology Dept had a 3-credit large-lecture course called Wine Appreciation that that had 100+ students every semester. I knew a lot of people who took it. I didn't because I figured I could already differentiate between the apple and strawberry Boone's Farm BTW, one of the nicknames we had for our school was Grapestake Tech.

 

I miss having Bunky and Wade around. My wife and I "failed" their wine appreciation class many times just so we could take it over and over again.

One "semester" Becky Burleigh, the women's soccer coach, was taking the course with us.