Grapes In Native America

a number of grape species are found in the new world and these types were domesticated after the european encounter with america (reisch and pratt 1996). one american species, v. labrusca, known as the fox grape, was rapidly domesticated while others were hybridized with v. vinifera to develop phylloxeraresistant rootstocks. muscadines (v. rotundifolia), native to the southern united states, were preserved by native americans by drying (olien 2001) but was not cultivated and can be considered a recent domesticate.