The Sweet Briar Vixen grape

The true Sweet Briar grape:
Vitis cordifolia (Michaux, 1803; Engelmann, 1883)
(First described by Linnaeus (1753) as Vitis vulpina, literally, the vixen grape)

Growing wild across Sweet Briar, Vitis cordifolia, or the frost grape, is the dominant wild grape species in this area. Typically ripening very late and developing tolerable acid levels only after frost, this grape makes a strongly characteristic, herbaceous, grapey but unfoxy, tart, varietal wine with light color and soft tannins. Because of it's unusually high acid content (3-7% compared to 0.5-1.2% for cultivated wine grapes), the grape requires skill in the winemaking process to produce a drinkable product without extreme amelioration. Very late harvest, even after frost, helps make better wine from it. It is probable that this is the grape that Thomas Jefferson's winemaker Philip Mazzei used for his "colonial style" wine in his experimentation with native grapes (collected from the treetops). Mazzei and his assistants found the wine to be quite agreeable (Mazzei drank his and his men sold theirs for a shilling a bottle). George Washington planned to use the grape for wine, but his plans were cut short by the revolution. His description of the grape in his letter to the French Minister of state reads:
"Headquarters, Newburgh, July 9, 1783

To cultivate exotics for the purpose of making Wine, or for my amusement was never contemplated by me. The spontaneous growth of the Vine in all parts of this Country; the different qualities of them and periods for maturation, led me to conclude that by a happy choice of the species I might succeed better than those who had attempted the foreign vine; accordingly, a year or two before hostilities commenced I selected about two thousand cuttings of a kind which does not ripen with us (in Virginia) 'till repeated frosts in the Autumn meliorate the Grape and deprive the vines of their leaves. It is then, and not before, the grape (which is never very pallitable) can be eaten.

Several little Essay's have been made by Gentlemen of my acquaintance to cultivate the foreign grape, for Wine but none had well succeeded; owing either to an improper kind or the want of skill in the management; for the most part their Wine soon contracted an acidity, which rendered it unfit for use; one cause of which I ascribed to our Summer Autumnal heats and to the too great fermentation occasioned thereby. This consideration led me to try the wild grape of the country; and to fix upon the species which I have already described, and which in the Eight years I have been absent from my Estate has been little attended to. Had I remained at home, I should 'ere this, have perfected the experiment which was all I had in view."

I prefer the wine from Vitis cordifolia fermented dry or nearly so with a solid oak backbone to the bouquet. This is a true 'spaghetti red' complimenting any acidic food.

The common name 'frost grape' (see Washington's letter, above) refers to the grape's sweet taste developing after frost as acid levels drop during berry decomposition. High sugar levels develop in the berries well before frost, however, and sufficient sugar levels to produce wine without additional sugar can be obtained. The grape is best picked when sugar content is maximum and before the berries decrease significantly in acid content and lose favorable color and tannin components. At this stage the acid must be neutralized for decent wine. The early Latin name vulpina used by Linnaeus (1753) is the feminine form of 'fox' (also a vixen!) which are said by some to be attracted to the grapes. Alternatively, vulpina may refer to the small size of the grape's berries when compared to the American fox grape, Vitis labrusca , which also grows wild in the area but much less abundantly.