Thursday, October 11, 2012

Wondering about Lenoir's pedigree

I'm thinking about Lenoir's pedigree because I've tasted 3 wild cinerea in the past few days. They reminded me of Lenoir. Additionally, I've got a cross from Cliff Ambers that seemed a lot like Lenoir. I need to understand Lenoir better, especially if cinerea a big part in Lenoir's pedigree. Here is what Cliff Ambers had to say about the Lenoir pedigree:
"Jancis Robinson pegs it as aestivalis X vinifera, which I largely agree with except that Georgia aestivalis is as mixed up as it is anywhere. Out on the Piedmont where the bourquiniana came from, the aestis are Munson's southern type which are interbred with the cinerea var. floridana that runs up and down the Piedmont and Coastal Plain. So, I would give it as: aestivalis (with some cinerea in its pedigree) X vinifera I have produced many bourquiniana types like Lenoir and Herbemont from aestivalis X vinifera and aestivalis X labruscana crosses. More are like Herbemont in color because the Blue Ridge/Ohio aestis I tend to use are not mixed with cinerea. Aaron Puhala's Buxton, NC, aestivalis seedlings are southern aestivalis type and should give dark skinned seedlings. I'll let you know in a couple years as I made lots of crosses with them in 2011 that I planted this year. Two were crosses back to cinerea and those seedlings are still in perfect condition and look more like cinerea than aestivalis (although you can still make out the waxy leaf undersides). I've also grown VA Coastal Plain cinerea seed and found aestivalis hybrids in the seedlings. The wild grapes are not pure, unmixed species, but constantly intermingling and producing options for evolutionary favor. They tend to separate because of bloom times, but there are plenty of opportunities out there for cross pollination.
Rich's Bridlegate and John Barnett's FM 875 were both about 26 brix and maybe a bit over ripe. Bridlegate berries were less than .3", but FM 875 were about .4". That's a big difference. Bridlegate was very neutral, but FM 875 had a slight herbaceous under-tone. If I thought about it, I could imagine bananas, but it took a while. Not particularly attractive, but we did eat a bunch of them. The Plainview cinerea was still very tart (brix was only 20), and probably 3 weeks from being ripe. Anyway, we are already tasting Texas grapes in October. With luck, we will be improving the October selection in the coming years.

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