Meet the Grapes Behind Big Creek Winery’s Wines.

Red Muscadine

When Pedro Menéndez de Avilés founded what is now the oldest continuously occupied city in the United States, St. Augustine, Fla., in 1565, the goal was to establish a Spanish claim in this new land. They had hoped to find gold and other riches, and they most certainly would have noticed an abundance of muscadine grapes. And as early as the 1500s, muscadines were used for the commercial production of fine wines and port. In today’s vineyards, there are now a variety of muscadine grapes. Red Muscadine grapes can be pinkish, purple or even black in color. The addition of a sugar in the winemaking process frequently transforms the wine into a favored dessert wine. Others like a special dry red table wine made from bronze muscadine grapes.

Our Red Muscadine is Sam Duncan Reserve.

Concord

Concord is one of America’s most familiar grapes — the dark purple variety long associated with grape juice, jelly and other classic grape flavors. It was developed in 1849 by horticulturist Ephraim Wales Bull in Concord, Massachusetts, using native Vitis labrusca grapes. Bull introduced the variety commercially in the 1850s, and Concord quickly became popular because it was hardy, flavorful and well suited to colder parts of the country.

The grape also played an important role in the history of American grape juice. In 1869, Dr. Thomas Bramwell Welch pasteurized Concord grape juice to keep it from fermenting, creating an alcohol-free alternative for Communion. His product was originally known as “Dr. Welch’s Unfermented Wine” before becoming Welch’s Grape Juice.

Concord grapes are known for their deep purple color, strong aroma and bold, unmistakable grape flavor. In wine, they can produce a richly fruity style with the familiar character many people associate with fresh grapes and grape juice.

Our Concord is Saddle Up.

White Muscadine

Muscadine is one of North America’s native grape species and has been part of Southern food and wine culture for centuries. Native to the southeastern United States, muscadines thrive in the region’s warm, humid climate and are naturally well adapted to many of the pests and diseases that can challenge other wine grapes. Their thick skins, distinctive aroma and sweet, fruity flavor make them especially recognizable.

European explorers encountered abundant muscadine vines in what is now North Carolina as early as the 1500s, although Native Americans were using the fruit long before European settlement. Most wild muscadines produce dark purple or black fruit, but bronze-colored varieties also occur. One of the most famous is Scuppernong, a bronze muscadine discovered in North Carolina before 1760 and later named for the Scuppernong area. Although the name “scuppernong” is sometimes used for any bronze muscadine, it is actually the name of a particular cultivar.

White or bronze muscadines are typically large, round grapes with a golden-green to bronze color when ripe. Their wines are known for a pronounced fruity aroma and a naturally Southern character that can range from delicately sweet to richly aromatic.

Our White Muscadine is Wales Station.

Muscadine & Concord

Blending grape varieties allows a winemaker to bring together different aromas, flavors and characteristics in a single wine. Muscadine contributes its distinctive fruity, aromatic character, while Concord adds familiar grape flavor and natural sweetness.

When the two are blended carefully, neither grape has to overpower the other. Instead, the bold personality of Muscadine and the rich fruitiness of Concord complement one another, creating a wine that is smooth, flavorful and uniquely Southern in character.

Our Muscadine and Concord blend is Miner’s Twist.

Crimson Cabernet

Crimson Cabernet is a relatively new American wine grape created by crossing two important red grapes — Cabernet Sauvignon and Norton. Developed in California in 2001, it was bred to combine some of Cabernet Sauvignon’s traditional wine characteristics with Norton’s ability to tolerate colder temperatures and disease pressure.

The dark grapes can produce rich red wines that are smooth and approachable, with good fruit character and enough structure for barrel aging. Crimson Cabernet is now grown in a number of states and is particularly well suited to regions where growing traditional Cabernet Sauvignon can be challenging.

Our Crimson Cabernet is blended with Norton to create Casimir Pulaski.

Noiret

Noiret is a dark-skinned red wine grape developed by Cornell University’s grape breeding program in Geneva, New York. Released in 2006, Noiret was developed for wine-growing regions where cold winters can make traditional European grapes difficult to grow. Wines made from Noiret are known for their deep color and distinctive character, often showing notes of blackberry and raspberry along with the black and green pepper aromas for which the grape is especially known. Noiret also has a good tannin structure, allowing it to work well both as a varietal wine and as part of a red blend.

Our Noiret wines include Strolling Jim and Red Iron Red. Noiret is also used in Iron Horse, Antoinette Hall and Liberty Reserve.

Niagara

The Niagara Grape is green in color and is known as the most common grape used for white grape juice. It is grown, in the United States, most commonly in Niagara County, New York. The grape was the result of a cross-breeding of the white Cassaday Grape and the rich red/purple Concord. Claudius Hoag and Benjamin Clark were the first to grow the Niagara Grape. By 1882 it was being sold commercially in the areas close to where it is grown. A fragile grape, it is known for its sweet aroma and flavors that taste a little of lemon and flowery jasmine.

Our Niagara is Campbellsville Bears.

Catawba

The purplish-red grape of the Catawba is a favorite for wines, juice, jams and jellies. Its origins are lost to history, but there is a lovely story that it came from the Rose Hill property of Rockville, Maryland. In the early 1800s this land was given to Lewis and Eliza Wootton Bell as a part of Eliza’s dowry. The grapes may have come from cuttings of vines discovered in 1801 in North Carolina, traveling north to Montgomery County, Maryland, in 1816 in the care of a traveler, John Scholl, who left the cuttings with an innkeeper in Clarksburg. They appeared at Rose Hill shortly thereafter when Eliza Beall obtained some cuttings from her brother Singleton Wootton, who had, in turn, gotten them from Scholl.
Regardless of its origins, it is a hallmark grape in winemaking history in the United States as it was the most popular grape in the country, used for sparkling wines distributed as far afield as Europe and California by the mid-1800s. However, between a blight and the chaos of the Civil War, the Catawba faded from popularity. It is now a specialty wine known for its shades of pink and white and for its musky and earthy flavor.

Our Catawba is Richland Creek

Norton

Norton is a dark-skinned American wine grape with a history dating to the early 1800s. It was developed in Richmond, Virginia, by horticulturist Dr. Daniel Norborne Norton and was being offered commercially by the 1820s. Although early accounts attempted to identify its parent grapes, modern genetic research indicates that Norton has substantial ancestry from the native American species Vitis aestivalis and that its exact parentage is more complicated than once believed.

The hardy grape found an especially welcoming home in Missouri, where German settlers began growing it in the 1840s. Norton became one of the foundations of Missouri’s early wine industry and gained international recognition when a Norton wine from Hermann, Missouri, won a gold medal at the 1873 Vienna World’s Fair. Prohibition devastated Norton vineyards and the American wine industry, but the grape survived and eventually enjoyed a revival. Today, Norton is grown primarily in the eastern and Midwestern United States and is even the official state grape of Missouri.

Norton produces deeply colored, generally dry red wines with good acidity and structure. Its flavors can include blackberry, plum and tart cherry along with earthy or spicy notes. The grape is also valued for its natural resistance to several diseases that can make growing traditional European wine grapes difficult in humid regions.

Our Norton wine is Crescentview. Norton is also featured in Casimir Pulaski, Antoinette Hall and Liberty Reserve.

Chambourcin

Chambourcin is a species of grapevines belonging to the Vitis genus in the flowering plant family Vitaceae. It is a French-American interspecific hybrid grape variety used for making wine. Its parentage is uncertain. The hybrid was produced by Joannes Seyve who often used Seibel hybrids produced in the 1860s. The grape has only been available since 1963; it has a good resistance to fungal disease, and is one of the parents of the new disease resistant variety, Regent, which is increasing in popularity among German grape growers. The grape produces a deep-colored and aromatic wine. It can be made into a dry style or one with a moderate residual sugar level. Chambourcin is a teinturier, a grape whose juice is pink or red rather than clear like most red vitis vinifera cultivars.

Our Chambourcina are Firehawk and Red Hawk.

Traminette

Traminette is an aromatic white wine grape with Gewürztraminer in its parentage. Developed through Cornell University’s grape breeding program and released in 1996, it was created to retain much of Gewürztraminer’s distinctive character while offering greater cold hardiness and disease resistance. Traminette wines are especially known for their fragrance, with aromas and flavors that can suggest flowers, spice, lychee and apricot. The grape can produce expressive wines in several styles and has become an important wine grape in parts of the eastern and Midwestern United States.

Our Traminette is one of three grape varieties blended to create Old Stone Bridge.

Chardonel

Chardonel is a white wine grape developed from a cross between Seyval and Chardonnay. The cross was made through the grape breeding program at the New York State Agricultural Experiment Station and the variety was released by Cornell University in 1991. Chardonel combines some of the desirable wine qualities associated with Chardonnay with the adaptability of a hybrid grape. It ripens during the middle of the growing season and is used to make balanced white wines with good acidity and a clean fruit character. It has become one of several hybrid grapes grown successfully in the eastern United States.

Our Chardonel is one of three grape varieties blended to create Old Stone Bridge.

Vidal Blanc

Vidal Blanc is a white hybrid wine grape developed in France by grape breeder Jean Louis Vidal. It is a cross between Ugni Blanc — also known as Trebbiano — and the hybrid grape Rayon d’Or. Vidal Blanc is known for its ability to ripen successfully in cooler climates while maintaining good acidity, which has helped make it an important wine grape in parts of the United States and Canada. Depending on how it is made, Vidal Blanc can produce dry, semi-dry or sweeter wines, often with fresh fruit and citrus characteristics.

Our Vidal Blanc is one of three grape varieties blended to create Old Stone Bridge.