No, this is not an in-depth coverage of the native grapes that exist in Mississippi and Louisiana. It is more a plea for help in identifying grapes and marveling at the diversity. The photo below shows three grape clusters from three different vines at two different locations. The longer, loose cluster was found in Covington, LA whereas the shorter two are both from Poplarville, MS.
Native Grape Clusters from MS and LA.
The larger cluster is loose, which is a good trait to have in order to reduce disease. It also has red flesh and would help with deeper color for wine (teinturier). The small cluster in the middle had the best flavor of the three. In fact the other two had little flavor to speak of, but the middle cluster had a nice burst of fruitiness that made it stand out. It is small and tight clustered though. The bottom cluster has a decent size and is fairly loose. The vine it came from was extremely productive with hundreds of these clusters all over it (well the vine is huge and goes across many trees). I should have taken photos of the leaves, but did not. I plan to save some of the seeds and might grow some out just to take a look. If anyone out there has experience in IDing native grapes, please give me a suggestion to go on. Below are the search results for Vitis species within MS and LA from plants.usda.gov
| State Search for Genus = vitis State and Province Distribution = U.S. States (Louisiana, Mississippi) 61 records returned Click on an accepted name below to view its PLANTS Profile with all synonyms, distribution map, more information, and web links if available. Synonyms are indented beneath accepted counterparts.
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It’s hard to tell without seeing the leaves. Most of the vines I’ve seen in my area are either cinerea or natural cinerea/aestavalis crosses. I have selected two plants that I am cultivating that closely resemble pure aestavalis, but I haven’t located the parent vine yet. They should produce next year, if at all. Leaf pictures would help with identification.
I know it. If I have time I can get some photos today for 2 of the 3 vines.
After some research I believe the two smaller clustered grapes are both Vitis cinerea. I will need to take another trip to Covington to find out about the other grape with the loose clusters.