Andresky: History of American Catawba grapes
It grows so very well in Ohio’s rocky soils.
The grapevine known as Catawba is a cousin to our very own Concord grape, which is named after Concord, Mass., happens to be the most popular country vine ever to grow in America. Catawba is perhaps our second finest and much lighter in color with a pink skin rather than the more robust dark purple Concord grape.
Catawba was identified in North Carolina in 1802 even before the Concord grapevine. A year later, Nicholas Longworth moved from New Jersey and arrived at a tiny river town along the Ohio River. At the time 800 people lived in the river town known as Cincinnati. His intentions were to stay and make a living by clearing land and planting crops. Longworth tried to grow grapes but was unsuccessful until he found Catawba.
Current research explains that Catawba is a hybrid vine, or a crossbreed of a crossbreed. It has one North American parent, a Vitas labrusca species, while its other parent came from European stock called Vitas vinifera. Due to the lack of DNA knowledge in 1803, however, wine makers to believed that the vine was an American Native cultivar.
Partly right, the popularity of the grape stemmed largely from its showy pink color and sweet, rich juice. It easily developed an enormous following. Longworth hit the jackpot with his pink champagne made from Catawba grapes, selling millions of bottles. Its popularity continued well into the 1900s.
Exporting Catawba grapevines and their wines became popular and Europe became a great customer. But the Catawba vine had the dubious distinction of bringing the dreaded phylloxera disease to Europe. Unbeknownst to Longworth, the plant carried with it a microscopic sized louse. This miniature root-sucking insect had a veritable vine buffet with Europe’s unprotected grape plants.
In America, native grapevines had a resistance towards the insect, but in Europe starting from about 1855, vineyards were ravished by the louse and by 1880 most every vine from Portugal to Russia and south to Italy was lost. What turned into millions of dollars for Nicholas Longworth had put Europe into a tail-spin.
It wasn’t until a nursery owner from Denison, Texas, stepped in that Europe’s beloved wine industry was saved. His name was Thomas Volnay Munson. Thanks to his research and with the help of other international and local growers the solution came about. Munsun grafted American rootstock to Europe’s vines and created a new phylloxera-resistant vine. So, you could say our Catawba caused the problem and Munsun’s ingenuity helped save it.
Wine columnist Andy Andresky is the owner of 1776 restaurant in Crystal Lake and teaches wine courses at McHenry County College.
