RARE GRAPE VARIETAL RESOURCE

Parentage: Concord & Thompson

In 1933 at the Cornell Biological Field Station in Geneva, New York, the Concord grape and the Thompson grape where mixed to form the Bronx Grape. The Bronx has the robust flavor of the Concord grape and the texture of the Thompson grape. As the Bronx ripen, they change from slightly tart, firm, pale green grapes to a grape with a honey-like taste, delicate skin and a rosy pink color. A ripe Bronx Grape has a light, musty and floral perfume. The grapes are highly vulnerable to splitting while is transit, as their thin skins fracture with even the slightest piercing making the Bronx Grape very limited in production. Currently only two mother vines exist. John Lagier, of Lagier Ranches, is the only producer in California to have obtained cuttings of the original Bronx grapevines. Lagier grows organic Bronx grapes on his vineyard in Northern California and sells the grapes at San Francisco Bay Area farmers’ markets.

(Courtesy of Slow Food Foundation for Biodiversity – Ark of Taste) https://www.fondazioneslowfood.com/en/ark-of-taste-slow-food/bronx-grapes/