One of around 30 American species or wild vines with the full botanical name Vitis rupestris Scheele. It was first described in 1848 by the German botanist Georg Heinrich Adolf Scheele (1808-1864), who is also immortalised in the name for this reason. Together with the two species Vitis acerifolia and Vitis riparia, it forms the Ripariae group.
Due to the often stony subsoil of its habitats, it is also known by the trivial synonyms rock grape or sand grape, as well as beach grape, bush grape, currant grape, Ingar grape, July grape, mountain grape, rock grape, sand grape and sugar grape. The vine is mainly found in the temperate, warm areas of the south-west of the United States in treeless prairies. These are mainly the US states of Arkansas, Illinois, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Tennessee and Texas. In contrast to other wild vines, it is not a climbing plant, requires a lot of light and warmth and grows as a small bush mainly on dry sand, gravel and crushed stone soils along mountain rivers and in dry riverbeds.
Resistance
The vine is resistant to both types of mildew, tolerates heat, but is sensitive to drought, frost and chalky soils. Resistance to phylloxera is excellent - very good against nodosities and good against tuberosities. It develops a deep root system. The vine produces simple wines without foxy, which is why it is also used for Celtic varieties due to its other positive characteristics, but mainly for crossing rootstocks. These include 110 Richter, 1103 Paulsen, 140 Ruggeri, 3309 Couderc and the notorious AxR 1.
New varieties
New varieties with Vitis rupestris genes include Alicante Ganzin, America, Aramon du Gard, Bellandais, Breidecker, Cabernet Cantor, Calastra, Caperan, Chambourcin, Chancellor, Chelois, Couderc Noir, Decora, Flot Rouge, Garonnet, Johanniter, La Crosse, Landal Noir, Landot Noir, Lanka, Maréchal Joffre, Merzling, Munson, Oiseau Rouge, Olivar, Phoenix, Pinard, Plantet, Prinzipal, Rainha, Ravat Blanc, Ravat Noir, Rayon d'Or, Reflex, Reform, Regent, Rescape, Rinot, Royalty, Rubired, Seyval Blanc, Sirius, Staufer, Taylor, Triomphe d'Alsace, Vidal Blanc, Villard Blanc, Villard Noir, Vivarais, Zala Gyöngye. See further information on this topic under the keywords American Vines and Vine Systematics.
Picture left: from the book The Grapes of New York, 1908 by Ulysses Prentiss Hedrick
Image right: By Joachim Schmid, Geisenheim - Self-photographed, CC BY 3.0 de, Link
both edited by Norbert F. J. Tischelmayer
