Vitis vinifera probably first came from the Caspian Sea area of Iran and then spread both south and west many thousands of years ago. The earliest wine makers undoubtedly lived in this area. Researchers in the Zagros Mountains of northwestern Iran have found clay vessels dating back to roughly 5000 BC containing wine residues. Familiar to the Sumerians of ancient Iraq—grapes are mentioned in the famous epic poem “Gilgamesh,” about 3000 BC----paintings from 1450 BC in Egypt depict grape growing, harvesting and wine making.
From the beginning wild grapes of a different strain from vitis vinifera grew throughout North America, perhaps 40 different varieties. In about 1000 AD, well before the voyages of Christopher Columbus, Viking explorer Leif Eriksson sailed west and came upon a land filled with wild grapes. He called it Vinland, probably today’s Massachusetts.
Later settlers in the northeast described these grapes as having a “foxy”
taste, a certain musky quality. Preferring the grapes from home,
colonists arriving from Europe in the 17th and 18th centuries repeatedly
attempted to grow the vines they brought with them. Each time the plantings
failed. Diseases and climate fluctuations in the northeastern part
of North America were enemies of vitis vinifera. Only grapes bred from
the native species such as Concord, or grapes grown from mixes of native
species or hybrids, grew successfully. Hybrids from a mix of native and
vinifera, such as Catawba and Niagara, also fared well.
Curiously, native American grapes from east of the Rocky Mountains
will not grow out west. And Vitis vinifera, on the other hand, will grow
only in the western part of the United States.
France, the pre-eminent wine producing country in the world, or so it thinks, was saved by the upstart American wine industry in the mid 1800’s. Phylloxera, an aphid which devours grape vines, began killing off vast stretches of vines in France. Vintners started over by grafting vitis vinifera to American rootstock resistant to the pest. The great wines of France today are the offspring of these Yank vines.
French trade card 1890's - "kiddie" vineyard workers
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