Catawba
A copper-pink native grape that made Ohio the center of American winemaking in the 1850s. It's still poured as sweet pink, white and sparkling wine along Lake Erie and in the Finger Lakes.
Catawba is the grape that put American wine on the map in the mid-1800s. It was found near the Catawba River in North Carolina and promoted in the 1820s by Major John Adlum, an early American wine pioneer. In the 1840s and 1850s Nicholas Longworth of Cincinnati made a sparkling Catawba that was famous enough for Henry Wadsworth Longfellow to write a poem about it. For a time, Ohio's Catawba made it the leading wine state in the country.
What It Tastes Like
Catawba has copper-pink skins and makes pink, white or sparkling wines with strawberry, red apple and grape aromas, plus the musky, foxy note of native American vines. It has good acidity, so even the sweet versions taste lively. Most Catawba wine is sweet or semi-sweet.
Where It Grows
The Lake Erie islands and shoreline of Ohio, including Isle St. George, are Catawba's historic stronghold. Some of the old vineyards there have been producing for well over a century. It's also grown in New York's Finger Lakes and Lake Erie regions, in Pennsylvania and Michigan, and in Missouri and North Carolina.
What to Look For
- Pink Catawba is the classic sweet sipper.
- Sparkling Catawba is a taste of 19th-century American wine history.
- Catawba in blends, especially sweet pink house wines.
A visit to the Lake Erie Islands, with a ferry ride and a glass of Catawba by the water, is one of the most enjoyable ways to taste where American wine began.
Where to Find Catawba
Wine regions on American Winery Guide where Catawba is grown or poured: