Grapes

A fruit that built civilizations

Grapes have been cultivated for at least 8,000 years, with the earliest evidence of viticulture in present-day Georgia and Armenia. Vitis vinifera, the European grape, is the source of nearly every wine you’ve heard of. North America’s native grapes (Vitis labrusca, Vitis rotundifolia) gave us Concord juice and muscadine wine but were once nearly unworkable for European-style vinification.

Table grapes vs. wine grapes

Most grapes you eat fresh are bred for size, sweetness, and seedlessness — Thompson Seedless dominates global supermarkets. Wine grapes are smaller, with thicker skins, more seeds, and a higher acid-to-sugar ratio that makes them unappealing to eat but ideal for fermentation. The same species, very different selection pressures.

Raisins, sultanas, currants

Dried grapes go by different names depending on the variety and process: raisins (any dried grape, often Thompson), sultanas (golden, treated with sulfur dioxide), and currants (small, dark, from the Black Corinth grape — unrelated to redcurrants or blackcurrants).

The phylloxera disaster

In the 1860s, a tiny aphid called phylloxera was accidentally brought from North America to Europe and devastated nearly every European vineyard within decades. The fix: graft European vines onto American rootstock, which the pest doesn’t kill. Almost every commercial wine grape today grows on American roots.