Muscadine

Muscadine is the grape of the American South. Muscadines are a distinct native species (Vitis rotundifolia) that grows wild from Virginia to Florida and west to Texas. Thick skins and natural resistance to heat, humidity and Pierce's disease let them thrive where European grapes can't. Scuppernong is the best-known bronze muscadine, and many Southerners use the two names interchangeably.

What It Tastes Like

Muscadine wines are bold and musky, with a perfume all their own. Bronze varieties like Scuppernong and Carlos smell of banana, honeydew, apple and candied citrus. Black varieties like Noble bring plum, red berries and a deep purple color. Most muscadine wine is sweet, which suits its big, fruity aromas, but a growing number of wineries are making drier styles.

Where It Grows

North Carolina, Georgia, Florida, South Carolina, Alabama and Mississippi are muscadine country, and you'll find it in Virginia, Tennessee, Louisiana, Arkansas and Texas too. North Carolina's first commercial wineries were built on Scuppernong in the 1800s. The so-called Mother Vine on Roanoke Island, believed to be over 400 years old, is still alive.

What to Look For

• Sweet Scuppernong or Carlos is the classic white muscadine wine.
• Sweet Noble and other black muscadine reds.
• Dry muscadine is a newer style worth trying if you think you don't like sweet wine.
• Fresh muscadines at harvest (late August through September), sold at many wineries.