Concord

Concord is the grape that tastes like grape. Ephraim Wales Bull grew it from a wild Vitis labrusca seedling in Concord, Massachusetts, and it first fruited in 1849. In 1869 Thomas Welch used it to make unfermented grape juice, and that's why Concord defines what most Americans think grapes should taste like. It's also the base for many sweet, nostalgic red wines.

What It Tastes Like

Concord wine smells exactly like grape juice and grape jelly, with candied berry and a musky perfume that wine people call foxy. That aroma comes from native American vines and is part of the grape's charm. It's almost always made sweet, because the grape's high acidity makes dry Concord taste tart and thin.

Where It Grows

The Lake Erie grape belt, running through western New York, northwestern Pennsylvania and northeastern Ohio, is the largest Concord-growing area east of the Rockies. Southwest Michigan, around Paw Paw and the Lake Michigan Shore, is another major center, as is Washington's Yakima Valley, though most of that crop goes to juice. Concord is hardy to about -20°F and thrives in the humid, cold-winter climates that challenge European grapes.

What to Look For

• Sweet Concord wine is a tasting-room staple and an unapologetic crowd-pleaser.
• Sparkling Concord is fun and festive.
• Port-style Concord and Concord dessert wines.
• Kosher sweet wines: many of the classic Passover wines are Concord.

Worth Knowing

Many Lake Erie and southwest Michigan wineries sit among Concord vineyards grown mainly for juice. Harvest season, roughly mid-September through October, fills the air along the Lake Erie shore with the smell of grape jelly. That alone makes it worth the drive.