🌿 Hybrid grape

Hybrid grapes are varieties produced by crossing European grapes with American or Asian ones. The European species is Vitis vinifera. An American one is, for example, Vitis labrusca, an Asian one Vitis amurensis.

Why do this? European varieties make good wine but suffer from disease and cold. American species resist fungal diseases better, such as downy mildew. Amur grape withstands hard frost. Breeders cross them to get a vine that combines good flavour and toughness. Such varieties are often called resistant, and the most modern group is known as PIWI.

Hybrids are grown in cold and humid areas where ordinary grapes are hard to keep healthy, and they need fewer sprays. In many European wine designations their use is restricted or forbidden, so check regional rules on the label. One example is Solaris, bred in Germany. Breeding continues, and new hybrids appear fairly often.