Muscadine or Vitis rotundifolia is often considered “America’s First Grape” and was consumed by the earliest explorers and settlers. In 1840, North Carolina was the largest wine producing state in the Union and the best selling wine before Prohibition was a muscadine blend called “Virginia Dare”. Today the grape flourishes in the southeast United States, where several types of muscadine are grown: Scuppernong, Carlos, Magnolia and Noble. Muscadine wine can be made either sweet as a dessert wine or sometimes dry.
North Carolina is still the largest producer of muscadine wine and state organizations encourage its production from the
North Carolina Grape Council to the
North Carolina Muscadine Grape Association. The North Carolina State Fair even has a separate entry for Best Muscadine wine which was won by Old North State Winery’s Starlight White in 2004.
Hinnant Family Vineyards & Winery is the largest muscadine vineyard in North Carolina. The Hinnant family started growing muscadine grapes because of the tremendous health affects noted above. They currently produce 5,000 cases of muscadine wine annually from dry Noble and Carlos to their Muscadine Blush and sweet Tarheel Red. Their wines have won awards through out competitions in the southeast as well as the New York Finger Lakes International Competition. In addition to the muscadine wine, the winery produces thousands of gallons of muscadine juice which is sold to grocery stores. Whereas their sweet muscadine wines have gained customer acceptance in the southeast, Hinnant Family Vineyards is working to convince the wine public that their dry muscadine wines are good alternatives to the more familiar dry red wines. They are looking forward to the day when muscadine wines become a household name.
There are also several muscadine producers distributed throughout South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Florida, Louisiana, Tennessee, and even Texas. One of our favorite wineries, South Carolina’s
La Belle Amie Vineyard, provides several opportunities each year to sample their muscadine wine by hosting themed festivals. In Florida, the muscadine grape grows with a slightly thicker skin then its northern neighbors, which produces a slightly sweeter grape. Florida wineries take advantage of this anomaly by creating sweeter versions of muscadine wine.
Rosa Fiorelli Winery & Vineyard’s Red Muscatine Dessert is a Gold winning dessert wine and
San Sebastian Winery fortifies muscadine to produce an excellent port.
During our Compass Tours we have visited several wineries that specialize in muscadine wine and have become enthusiastic supporters of the grape. In addition to the discussed health benefits we believe muscadine wine should have a spot in your wine cellar.
Specifically, the Stover grape cultivar was developed at the Leesburg Agricultural Research Center and is named in honor of Loren Stover (1898–1993), Florida’s "Mr. Grape". Stover was a pioneering horticulturist who developed this variety in 1956 to be resistant to Pierce’s disease and other fungal issues prevalent in Florida’s humid climate. The cultivar is a cross between Mantey and Seyve‑Villard 12‑309. Mantey is a self‑fertile seedling of unknown parentage, but derived primarily from Vitis coriacea Shuttleworthii and contributes disease resistance, heat tolerance, and adaptation to the southeastern U.S. Seyve‑Villard 12‑309 or Roucaneuf (developed by breeder Bertille Seyve at the Seyve‑Villard program in France) is complex French hybrid with ancestry rooted in V. vinifera and V. rupestris and contributes fruit quality, cluster structure, and improved table‑grape characteristics.
Fiorelli Winery & Vineyard, located just outside Bradenton Florida, grows Stover and uses the grape in their semi-sweet Chill white white wine. The winery was founded in 1998 by Antonio and Rosa Fiorelli, Sicilian immigrants from Casteldaccia. Antonio began cultivating the estate with fruit bearing trees and a few grape vines and soon the operation expanded to 7.5 acres of vines and a full estate operation with dedicated production and tasting facilities. The grapes consist of several Florida‑adapted muscadine varieties -- including Noble, Carlos, and other bronze and black muscadines -- along with bunch‑grape hybrids such as Blanc du Bois and Conquistador. Their portfolio includes dry to semi‑sweet table wines, muscadine‑based reds and blushes, and fruit wines made from blueberry, strawberry, peach, and apple.
