The Grapes
Muscadines (Vitis rotundifolia) are native to the American southeast and differ from traditional winegrapes (Vitis vinifera) in several interesting and important ways.
Muscadines have larger berries, looser clusters, thicker skins, higher concentrations of potentially healthful phenolic compounds, and unique acid and aroma profiles when compared to traditional winegrapes.
Image: A Muscadine (“Carlos” variety) on the left, compared to a small cluster of traditional winegrapes (“Malbec” variety). Photo by Erik Martella.
Because they’re native to the South, Muscadines are resistant to many of the diseases like mildews, rots, and bacteria (such as Pierce’s Disease) that plague traditional winegrapes. Whereas something like Chardonnay might need pesticide applications every 7 to 10 days to ward off mildew, Muscadines can often be grown with no pesticide applications, not even those classified as Organic!
Over 150 varieties of muscadine grapes exist, but thus far, we have focused on just two:
A white called Carlos and a red called Noble.
Carlos
With their large size and open spacing on the vine, Carlos grapes are hand-harvested as individual berries rather than as clusters. One of the many interesting features of Carlos grapes is their dry scar – the spot where the grape attaches to the stem remains dry and intact when the grapes are picked.
Image: A handful of Carlos grapes grabbed from a picking bin. The dry scars on several berries is visible. Photo by Erik Martella.
Harvest typically occurs in early October once an optimal balance of ripeness has been achieved.
Video: A brief walk down the vineyard aisle looking at ripe Carlos grapes hanging from the vines. An initial pass through the vineyard to pull leaves from the fruit zone made the grapes more visible and accessible for harvesting. Video by Erik Martella..
Carlos expresses the some of the aroma characteristics of Scuppernong (a variety of Muscadine common in home gardens), but with less intensity and more complexity overall. Berries that are slightly green and not yet fully bronze in color have a distinct clove oil aroma. Wines tend to have low pH, often just under 3.0.
Video: Hand-picked Carlos grapes being loaded into a variable-capacity tank for carbonic maceration. Video by Elizabeth Higley.
Noble
Noble is a red grape that is high in polyphenolics but low in tannin. The clusters include enough berries to make it worthwhile to harvest entire bunches rather than individual berries as we do with Carlos (though the grapes then need to be destemmed at the winery).
Image: Clusters of dark, nearly black Noble hanging from a vine, ready to be harvested. Photo by Erik Martella.
The skins give up most of their color during fermentation to yield bright and intense red-violet wine.
Video: Noble skins stacked behind the open bottom door of a stainless steel fermentation tank. Wine is draining out of the door and the skins are noticeably more pale than they were prior to fermentation. Video by Elizabeth Higley.
Noble typically has a slightly higher pH than Carlos, but still low enough to maintain a distinct, bright red hue in the wine.
Video: Noble running along the outside of a press as it rotates. After the wine is drained away from the skins (as shown in the previous video), the skins are pressed in order to extract as much liquid as possible. Video by Elizabeth Higley.