Grapes of Worth

by Hank Burdine

“They were as wild and untamed as the land they covered. They grew on the sand and on the green soil, on the hills and on the plains as well as on every little shrub...also climbing towards the tops of tall cedars...in all the world the like abundance is not to be found.” Such was the manner in which early English explorer Sir Walter Raleigh described the grape he found growing when he landed on the coast of North Carolina in 1584. The first variety of that grape to be named was in 1810. It grew along the banks of the Scuppernong River. The bronze or purple-black fruit grew profusely throughout what is now the Southeastern United States. A staple in the diet of the local Indian tribes, it wasn’t long before the white man began cultivating the muscadine, turning it into jellies, jams and the wonderful elixir of thirsty settlers, wine.

Muscadine vines are quite vigorous and grow very well in areas of high humidity and warmer winter climates. The muscadine grape (Vitis rotundifolia Michx) is not cold hardy and does not do well where temperatures often go below 10 degrees Fahrenheit. The grapes grow in loose, small clusters of three to 40 grapes and are tolerant to pests and diseases that prevent bunch grapes from growing in the Southeast. Most muscadine vines are resistant to the bacterial Pearce’s Disease and phylloxera, which is the reason that the muscadine grape is the only grape that can be successfully grown in Mississippi. European and American grape hybrids grown elsewhere will not tolerate the warm, humid conditions, not to mention the disease and pest infestation of our southern climate.

A southern delicacy gracing many tables for centuries, muscadine jellies and jams have been the sweet, sought after “grandmamma” made complement to cathead biscuits and homemade sausage. Picked in the wild or in the garden, these overly large, 1 to 1 1/2 inch grapes have a sweet, succulent and fruity flavor, yielding lots of juice and pulp. Fresh market cultivars, to be sold for canning or eaten outright, can produce as much as 3 to 4 tons of grapes per well-managed acre of garden. Processed into wine, the muscadine produces a very aromatic vino with a charming bouquet, bold and full of flavor. Oftentimes used for homemade wine, the muscadine is a versatile grape found growing on small backyard trellises all over the South.

For years the Italian community in the Delta would buy grapes from California and have them shipped into Leland for distribution. Sam Cefalu recalls boxcars of grapes arriving and Italian families from Arkansas and Mississippi showing up to claim their share of the bounty. “Chili” Diangelo remembers getting a new pair of rubber boots each year to wear as they crushed the grapes in washtubs, the time honored and traditional way. Ten boxes of grapes weighing 30 pounds each would yield 110 gallons of wine. It is thought that the Peronis in Lake Village produced about 900 gallons of wine each year to give away to family and friends.

In 1984, the Delta area of northwest Mississippi and small portions of Tennessee and Louisiana were combined into the Mississippi Delta AVA by law and declared a viticultural region. Overseen by the Alcohol, Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau, the Mississippi Delta AVA covers 3,840,000 acres of the most fertile region in the United States. It is one of the largest American Viticultural Areas in the country, yet today there are no wineries located in this region. However, that has not always been the case.

In 1977, young Sam Rushing decided to move to the old family farm on the banks of the Sunflower River outside of Merigold. The small farm was a beautiful place to start a vineyard and grow the muscadine grape. After five to six years of effort and with the help of local dignitary Larry Speakes, press secretary to President Ronald Reagan, Sam was able to have the Mississippi Delta AVA declared law based on geographical and not political boundaries. An expert enologist, Sam was able to keep the residual sugars to a minimum in his dry table wine and won nine prestigious awards at the Eastern Wine Growers Banquet in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. Included in that honor was the prize for “Best American Grape Wine.” As the awards were being given out, the Master of Ceremonies shook his head and said, “This has to be wrong, it says The Winery Rushing is from Mississippi?” Sam and his wife Diane continued their business, averaging about 15,000 gallons of wine a year until December of 1990 when the Rushing family moved to Ouray, Colorado, where they continue to raise their children and are currently pre-eminent artists blowing glass and operating Ouray Glassworks.

Claiborne Barnwell experimented with French/American hybrid grapes in his seven-acre vineyard along Highway 49 in Indianola. For about 10 years he grew a variety of Cabernet Sauvignon, Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc grapes. Averaging about 4,000 gallons a year, Claiborne Vineyards was well known for its Bayou Rouge. According to Barbara Ensrud in her book American Vineyard, Bayou Rouge was a “gutsy little number.” However, plant bugs, disease and erratic climate conditions finally took a toll on the mid-Delta vineyard and the vines began to die out.

There is only one winery in the state of Mississippi today. The Old South Winery is located in Natchez and produces and sells 12 different varieties of wine from whites and roses to bold reds using the muscadine grape. With names such as Blue Bayou, Sweet Magnolia and Southern Belle, the muscadine wine legacy is continuing in our state.

Economically, the homegrown Mississippi wine industry does not bring in much to the state coffers, however, with the help of the USDA’s Agricultural Research Service and Mississippi State University, research horticulturists and nutritionists predict that the muscadine will not only be an alternative crop in Mississippi and the Southeast, but a new health food as well. Significant amounts of resveratrol are found in muscadines that have anticarcinogenic properties that inhibit tumor promotion in cancer patients. Ellagic acid is a natural organic compound thought to inhibit the start of cancer caused by certain chemicals. Studies are being done in the battle against prostate cancer using seed and skin extracts of the muscadine grape. According to Mississippi State Nutritionist Betty J. Ector, “We find that powdered muscadine puree (consisting of muscadine skins and pulp) has more dietary fiber that oat or rice bran. We know that high fiber consumption lowers blood pressure, serum triglycerides and both total and LDL (bad) cholesterol levels. It also protects against coronary heart disease, gastrointestinal diseases and colon cancer.”

Muscadines are now grown all over Mississippi in gardens and small commercial plots and are being marketed for home, fresh market and commercial uses. The juice is being extracted and used in jellies, jams, preserves, syrups, deserts and wine. It is estimated that for every one thousand acres of muscadines planted in Mississippi, 56 to 62 jobs are created in related businesses. One million gallons of juice would generate $7 million in gross sales including such areas as bottling, labels, equipment and marketing. The drought tolerant muscadine vine will grow rapidly and can produce a commercial crop in 3 years. The vines will produce for 30 or more years if cared for properly. As peanuts and other produce are now being grown in the Delta as alternate crops, many Delta farmers could set aside small 10 to 15-acre fields as a muscadine vineyard and reap the benefit of what could hopefully become a vibrant and exciting new industry for the Delta. Let’s hope so.
Cheers! DM