Jul 23rdConcord

Possibly the most recognizable flavor of grape is the Concord.  Many of the grapes grown in back yards and gardens are Concord. This is the grape associated with childhood and jelly sandwiches or the ever popular peanut butter and jelly. Most children and adults are familiar with Welch’s grape juices. When some individuals taste wine, they are looking for that taste.

Historically, Concord grapes are the product of a man named Ephraim Wales Bull, in Concord, Massachusetts, in 1849. According to the Concord Grape Association, Bull planted over twenty thousand seedlings hoping to produce the ideal grape. In the late 1860s, Thomas Bramwell Welch and his son Charles produced unfermented grape juice to use for their communion service. Today, the Welch Company produces over 400 grape products.

The Concord grapes, dark-skinned with a lighter colored bloom that rubs off, have a rather large seed and are very aromatic. Concord, though cultivated, is a Vitis labrusca, or Native American grape. Some believe that another native grape, Catawba, is a parent grape. Others believe it might have developed from other sources; some even suggest a Vitis vinifera or European grape. The characteristics of  the Concord grape, the foxy, musky flavor and candied grape aroma seem to be more representative of Native American grapes. Foxy does not refer to an animal flavor as the term suggests. Grapes found in the United States in the 1800s, such as Concord, were referred to as fox grapes, hence the description.

Most Kentucky wineries produce a Concord wine and they are generally quite popular. Visitors are reminded of the grape they remember from childhood. Concord wines are usually a sweeter wine. Acres of Land Winery, in Richmond, produces a Concord that has won multiple awards, StoneBrook Winery and Wight-Meyer are just two of the other wineries that produce Concord wines.