Grape Breeding at the
Sweet Briar Community Garden

Partially emasculated vidal blanc being prepared for pollination.

Introduction

In an attempt to develop wine grapes uniquely suited to the Sweet Briar climate and disease/insect pressures, Cliff Ambers of the Sweet Briar community garden is working with the local Vitis cordifolia wild frost grape to breed new red and white hybrid wine grapes. Cliff has already discussed the Wild Vixen grape on these pages. Cliff calls Vitis cordifolia the 'Wild Vixen' grape because of the original classification of mixed cordifolia and riparia specimens by Linnaeus in 1753 as Vitis vulpina; (Hedrick, 1908, p. 117). Vulpina is Latin for a female fox, or a vixen, so a wild grape so named must be a 'Wild Vixen'! Assuming quality vines can be developed, the planned names of these new hybrids are 'Vixen Blanc' and 'Vixen Noir', a tribute to the wild grape and the Sweet Briar College mascot.

A Very Attractive Grape from Sweet Briar

A natural hybrid that Cliff discovered along highway 29 by the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts is probably a cross of the Wild Vixen (Vitis cordifolia) with wild Vitis labrusca grape. This grape has been assigned the tentative name 'Foxy Vixen' because it is very foxy yet has the plant characteristics of the Wild Vixen (except the bunches and berries are larger, leaves are less cordate, and it tastes/smells like Concord grapes). This grape is similar to the spontaneous Beta-type hybrid discussed by Rombough (2002, p. 220) that grows along Lake Okoboji in northwestern Iowa. The Foxy Vixen is somewhat susceptible to downy mildew like pure Vitis cordifolia, but only a few early sprays for the disease are needed to provide lasting control of the problem. Of approximately 50 seedlings I have growing from seed of the original Foxy Vixen, about 1/4 have labrusca characteristics and the rest look like more typical Wild Vixen. One of my cuttings of the original Foxy Vixen bloomed in May, 2005, and showed it to be female. This is in line with the Foxy Vixen being an offspring of wild species. I made a test cross of a wild Vitis cordifolia male with a wild Vitis labrusca female at my home vineyard this spring (2005) which yielded two seeds. They should help greatly in understanding the Foxy Vixen better.

Other Wild Grapes at Sweet Briar

During May and August, 2004, I identified the local "opossum grape" or what T.V. Munson (1909) classified as his Vitis Baileyana grape after renaming it from his original name Vitis virginiana. Current classification labels this grape as Vitis cinerea variety Baileyana. It is a tiny berried grape that is very resistant to disease and apparently leafroller as indicated by Munson. This grape, like the riverbank grape Vitis riparia, likes moist locations. One possibility for a truly "bullet-proof" grape would be to incorporate our local aestivalis, cordifolia, cinerea, and labrusca into a single hybrid mother that could then be crossed with the cultivated grapes to add disease and insect resistance. As easy as it is to produce hybrid seed, this is certainly a possibility, and the Foxy Vixen already includes two of these species. Vitis cinerea vines were identified in seedlings from Williams Creek, at the side gate of Sweet Briar to Waugh's Ferry Rd., at professor Rob Alexander's property in Madison Heights, and at my farm west of Sweet Briar.

The search continues to locate summer grapes (Vitis aestivalis) on Sweet Briar lands. I have located beautiful specimens at my farm nearby, but have yet to see this vine at Sweet Briar.

About the Breeding Program

The main goals of the breeding at the SBCG are to increase the berry size, develop perfect flowers, improve juice chemistry, retain cluster form and openness, and retain vine health and vigor of the Wild Vixen grape. To keep the vines "true to Sweet Briar", I would like to maintain at least 50% local grapes in the hybrid parentage. Continued selection of seedlings from the open-pollinated wild vines is planned to help develop optimal wild parents for the crosses with cultivated varieties. Seedlings found not to have desirable qualities will be used as grafting stock to determine how the Wild Vixen serves in this capacity. Preliminary tests of grafting Chambourcin on cordifolia are very promising.

With the goal of Vixen Blanc and Vixen Noir winegrapes in mind, the breeding program comes into clearer focus. The white grape characteristic is a recessive trait which means that crossing any grape with the Wild Vixen will never yield a white grape in the F1 offspring unless by some fluke the Wild Vixen parent has a recessive white gene in it which is highly unlikely. This is because white cordifolia is excessively rare in nature as is any white wild grape. This makes it necessary to generate a series of F1 hybrids with the Wild Vixen and white wine grapes so the F1's all have the recessive white gene in them. Then the F1's can be crossed to yield F2 offspring of which about one fourth should be white. As the remaining grapes of these crosses will be black (or maybe blue or red), there is no real need to use red wine grapes for this breeding. Several white grapes have excellent characteristics to contribute to the general goals above, most notably Villard Blanc, Cayuga, and Seyval Blanc with their large, loose bunches. Other white grapes such as Golden Muscat, Traminette, and the Thompson Seedless offspring (Lakemont, Interlaken, Himrod, Romulus) could combine with the Wild Vixen for some interesting flavors. The focus on breeding will definitely be with the whites, however. With F1 hybrids with white parents, it will then be possible to make crosses with established hybrids with the recessive white gene to generate even more varied results. For example, consider what (cordifolia X Seyval) X Villard Noir might produce.

Check back with this page over the coming seasons for photos and updates of how these experiments are progressing:

2003 Updates

REFERENCES

Hedrick, U. P. (1908) The grapes of New York; Report of the New York Agricultural Experiment Station for the Year 1907 II, 15th Annual Report, V. 3, Part II, J.B. Lyon Company, Albany, 564 pp.

Munson, T. V. (1909) Foundations of American Grape Culture; T.V. Munson and Son, Denison, Texas, 252 pp.

Rombough, L. (2002) The grape grower: a guide to organic viticulture; Chelsea Green, White River Junction, VT, 289 pp.

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