Contact: Michael W. Neff
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American Society for Horticultural Science
'Delicious' new grape debuts
New muscadine grape for fresh fruit, wine markets
GAINESVILLE,
FL—Researchers at the University of Florida have introduced
'Delicious', a new muscadine grape cultivar. 'Delicious' ripens early,
produces high yields, and is disease-resistant. The black fruit
features exceptional taste and texture with an edible skin, making it
well-suited for fresh fruit consumption and the potential for wine
production. The name 'Delicious' was selected based on the comments of
vineyard visitors who sampled the fruit.
According to Dr. Dennis J. Gray, who led the research study published in the February 2009 issue of
HortScience,
'Delicious' (Vitis rotundifolia Michx.) originated from a cross between
AA10-40, a self-fertile, bronze-fruited selection with medium-sized
berries, and CD8-81, a self-fertile, black-fruited selection with
larger berries. The researchers noted that black berry color of
'Delicious' likely originated from 'Southland' and the self-fertile
trait came from 'Carlos', 'Southland', and/or 'Welder'. The original
seedling was planted in 1993.
The berries of 'Delicious' are
oval shaped and reddish, turning dark purple/black when ripe. Fruit
ripening dates vary seasonally, but tend to occur in early August at
Apopka, Florida, remarkably 2 to 3 weeks earlier than other muscadine
cultivars evaluated. Early ripe fruit have a semicrunchy flesh and an
edible skin. Fruit allowed to ripen further tend to have a softer
flesh, become noticeably juicier, but retain an edible skin. The
berries have a dry stem scar and harvest readily with mechanical
shaking.
Although 'Delicious' is being released primarily as a
fresh eating grape, it has some potential for wine. Based on
preliminary trials, the flavor of the wine (2006 vintage) rated equal
to those of 'Carlos' (a popular cultivar for wine) by a panel of 30
winemakers. The color is a medium to light red, generally lighter than
many red muscadine wines.
###
Delicious'
was publically released by the Cultivar Release Committee of the
Florida Agricultural Experiment Station, an agricultural research
program of the University of Florida's Institute of Food and
Agricultural Sciences, in October 2007. Inquiries regarding the
availability of 'Delicious' should be directed to Florida Foundation
Seed Producers, Inc. P.O. Box 110200, Gainesville, FL 32611-0200.
The complete study and abstract are available on the ASHS
HortScience electronic journal web site: http://hortsci.ashspublications.org/cgi/content/full/44/1/200
Founded
in 1903, the American Society for Horticultural Science (ASHS) is the
largest organization dedicated to advancing all facets of horticultural
research, education, and application. More information at ashs.org