| Catawba | |
|---|---|
| Grape (Vitis) | |
 Photographic plate of Catawba grape from the bookThe Grapes of New York, 1908 byUlysses Prentiss Hedrick | |
| Color of berry skin | Rouge |
| Species | Vitis labrusca ×Vitis vinifera "Sémillon"[1] |
| Also called | Seelist of synonyms |
| Origin | United States |
| VIVC number | 2346 |
Catawba is a red Americangrape variety used forwine as well asjuice,jams andjellies. Grown predominantly on the East Coast of the United States, this purplish-red grape is a likely a hybrid of the native AmericanVitis labrusca and theVitis vinifera cultivarSémillon.[2][3] Its exact origins are unclear but it seems to have originated somewhere on the East Coast between theCarolinas andMaryland.
Catawba played an important role in the earlyhistory of American wine. During the early to mid-19th century, it was the most widely planted grape variety in the country and was the grape behindNicholas Longworth's acclaimedOhiosparkling wines that were distributed as far away as California and Europe.
Catawba is a late-ripening variety, ripening often weeks after many otherlabrusca varieties and, like manyvinifera varieties, it can be susceptible to fungalgrape diseases such aspowdery mildew.[4]
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The exact origins and parentage of the Catawba grape are unclear.[5] While most sources agree that MajorJohn Adlum was growing the variety at his nursery inGeorgetown, Washington, D.C by at least 1823, where he got thecuttings of the vine is unknown with twowidowed Maryland women given attribution by different writers. Wine writer Bern Ramey andUniversity of California, Davisviticulture professor Lloyd A. Lider credit Mrs. J. Johnston ofFredericktown, Maryland who wrote to Adlum and said while her late husband always called the grapes "Catawba", she did not know where he got the original vines from.[6] Historian Thomas Pinney describes a similar story with Adlum receiving the cuttings in 1819 from a Mrs. Scholl ofClarksburg, Maryland whose late husband grew the grape. Again, the story goes that Mrs. Scholl told Adlum that while her husband always called the grape "Catawba", she could not recall where the vines came from.[5] It is possible that the source of the Catawba grapes came from the Rose Hill property, in Rockville, Maryland, which was acquired early in the 19th century by Lewis and Eliza Wootton Beall, as part of Eliza's dowry from her father Richard Wootton. It is during their ownership of Rose Hill that grapes were first cultivated on their property. The remnants of these grapes are still evident in the sole surviving grapevine that runs eastward from the side of the barn towards the Rose Hill Mansion. According to J. Thomas Scharf, the presence of Catawba grapevines at Rose Hill can be traced back to the early decades of the 19th century.[7] Cuttings of the Catawba grape, first discovered in western North Carolina around 1801, are believed to have been transported to Montgomery County before 1816, when they were left by a traveler with Jacob Scholl, an innkeeper in Clarksburg. They appeared at Rose Hill shortly thereafter when Eliza Beall obtained some cuttings from her brother Singleton Wootton, who had, in turn, gotten them from Scholl.[8]
The Catawba grape is one of the earliestVitis labrusca grapes used in wine production, but can also be eaten or made into grape juice, jam, or jelly. TheVitis International Variety Catalogue gives credit to the Scholls and describes Catawba as a crossing of the North American speciesVitis labrusca with the European speciesVitis vinifera and list 1819 as its likely introduction.[9] TheOxford Companion to Wine states the vine was identified inNorth Carolina even earlier, in 1802, but does not state who discovered the variety.[10] British wine expertOz Clarke also places the vine's origins in North Carolina but claims that it was first identified in 1801.[11]
The possible Carolina origins do correspond with circumstantial details about the name "Catawba". In the Carolinas there is theCatawba River, which flows through the territory of theCatawba people. While theCatawba Indian Nation is currently centered inSouth Carolina, the Catawba people have historically populated the entire area that extended from the western Piedmont ofNorth Carolina across theSouth Carolina border.[6]
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From its obscure origins, the Catawba grape began appearing on nursery inventory lists across the United States and soon became a major grape in the growingAmerican wine industry. From 1825 to 1850, it was the most widely planted grape in the United States.[6] One early adopter wasNicholas Longworth ofCincinnati, Ohio who founded America's first commercially successful winery.[12] After difficulties cultivating theAlexander, Longworth purchased Catawba cuttings from Major Adlum and planted a vineyard along theOhio River. After accidentally stumbling uponsparkling wine production in his winery, Longworth began producing a sparkling Catawba modeled after the wines ofChampagne.[6][13]
From the 1830s through the 1850s, Longworth's still and sparkling Catawba were being distributed fromCalifornia toEurope where it received numerous press accolades. In the 1850s, a journalist fromThe Illustrated London News noted that the still white Catawba compared favorably to thehock wines of theRhine and the sparkling Catawba "transcends theChampagnes ofFrance".[6][14] The wines were also well received at home in the United States whereHenry Wadsworth Longfellow published apoem dedicated to Nicholas Longworth titledOde to Catawba Wine. The popularity of Longworth's wine encouraged a flurry of plantings along theOhio River Valley and up north toLake Erie andFinger Lakes region ofNew York.[6] So influential was Longworth's Catawba wine that newspapers began referring to him as "the founder of wine culture in America, author of sparkling Catawba."[15]
Longworth was a fervent champion of Catawba, particularly grown in the Ohio River Valley, as a grape that he believed would lead the American wine industry for years to come. Prior to his sparkling Catawba, no other American wine had received the level of critical acclaim in Europe that his wines received. In the American journalCulture of the Grape and Manufacture of Wine, Longworth wrote in 1847, "The day is not distant, when the Ohio River will rival the Rhine, in the quantity and quality of its wine. I give the Catawba preference over all other grapes, for a general crop, for wine."[15]
The year 1859 was Catawba's peak in the Ohio wine industry, with the state being the largest producer in the United States, producing more than 568,000 US gallons (21,500 hL) of wine from 2,000 acres (800 ha) acres of mostly Catawba vines.[13] But the 1860s brought an end to the enthusiasm whenpowdery mildew decimated Catawba plantings and the economic turmoil of theAmerican Civil War led to many vineyards being pulled up or abandoned. Anotherlabrusca variety, theConcord developed in 1849 inConcord, Massachusetts byEphraim Wales Bull soon eclipsed Catawba in plantings and ended its dominance of the American wine industry.[6]
Like manyVitis labrusca varieties, the Catawba grapevine has large leaves that can be mono-lobed or moderately three-lobed with the slightly smaller leaves that are closer to theapical meristem of the vine shoot. The upper surface of the leaves have a medium green color with a leathery texture while the underside has dense whitetomentum (wooly hairs). The vine produces moderate size clusters that are nearly cylindrical and fairly compact. The large berries have an oval shape with what Bern Ramey describes as'"a dull purplish-red with a lilac-colored bloom". The Catawba has the characteristiclabrusca "slip-skin" which is thick but slides easily off between the fingers, leaving the pulp intact.[6]
The Catawba is a hardy vine that can handle the severecontinental climate of theEastern United States which includes hot, humid summers and cold winters. However, the vine is alate ripening variety, usually one to two weeks later than otherlabrusca varieties likeConcord andDelaware which means that it is susceptible toharvest time hazards that can come in locations with shortgrowing seasons before incremental winter weather sets in. The possiblevinifera parentage also means that the Catawba has a higher susceptibility to variousgrape diseases, like powdery anddowny mildew, than typicallabrusca varieties.[6]
In the 1940s, French-American viticulturalistCharles Fournier discovered aclonal mutation of Catawba in his Finger Lake vineyards that had less pigmentation in skin and could produce a lighterrosé wine than the usual Catawba variety. Fournier decided to use this variety, namedPink Catawba, in his New York sparkling wine fromGold Seal Vineyards.[6] In 1950, this sparkling pink Catawba was the first non-California wine to win a gold medal at thewine tastingcompetition of theCalifornia State Fair.[16]
The Catawba grape can still be found throughout theMidwest and Eastern United States, though its numbers are not very large due to the prevalence of more recentFrench-American hybrid varieties and increased plantings ofVitis vinifera in area suitable for its cultivation. The areas with the largest concentration of plantings are theLake Erie andFinger Lakes wine region, but Catawba can also be found inArkansas,Georgia,Michigan,Missouri,Ohio,Pennsylvania,North Carolina,South Carolina andWashington.[6]
In favorable locations that can accommodate the grape's late ripening, Catawba can produce amedium bodied wine with moderateacidity and enoughsugars to produceoff-dry to dry styles of wine. Though the grape is technically considered a "red wine" grape, Catawba actually producesrosés of varying shades of pink and white wines because the concentration ofanthocyanins in the grapes is very low and they contribute little color duringmaceration. Similarly, the low amount ofphenols from the skins also means that Catawba wines are very low intannins andextract.[6] Winemakers wishing to produce a darker Catawba can usethermovinification, with heat breaking down some of the coloring compounds from the skin, but that can have an effect on the overall flavor profile of the wine.[11]
The flavor of Catawba can have varying degrees of "foxiness", which refers to the fruity or "grapey" aromas commonly associated withVitis labrusca varieties.[6] While European tasters, such asOz Clarke andJancis Robinson,[17] often describe the level of foxiness as "distinctive",[11] American writers such as Ramey note that Catawba wines usually fall somewhere in the middle between Concord andvinifera when it comes to foxy aromas.[6]
Catawba is also known under the synonyms Arkansas, Captraube Rot, Catawba Rosa, Catawampus, Catowba Tokay, Cher Kee, Cherokee, Fancher, Francher Kello White, Francher Kells White, Keller's White, Lebanon, Lebanon Seedling, Lichigan, Lincoln, Lincolun, Mammoth Catawba, Meads Seedling, Mecleron, Merceron, Michigan, Muncy, Muncy Pale Red, Municipale Red, Omega, R'd Muncy, Red Muncy, Rose Of Tennessee, Rote Captraube, Sarato A, Saratoga, Singleton, Tekomah, Tokay, Virginia Amber, and White Catawba.[9]
| Catawba | |
|---|---|
 Color coordinates | |
| Hex triplet | #703642 |
| sRGBB (r,g,b) | (112, 54, 66) |
| HSV (h,s,v) | (348°, 52%, 44%) |
| CIELChuv (L,C,h) | (31, 37, 1°) |
| Source | Maerz and Paul[18] |
| ISCC–NBS descriptor | Dark red |
| B: Normalized to [0–255] (byte) | |
At right is displayed the colorcatawba.
The colorcatawba is a representation of the color of the outer skin of catawba grapes.[19]
The first recorded use ofcatawba as a color name in English was in 1916.[20]
