Cultivar 303: Concord

Concord is a grape cultivar grown from seed of the wild fox grape, Vitis labrusca. It first fruited in 1849 and is credited to E. W. Bull of Concord, Massachusetts. Later sources call it the most popular and most widely grown of the older dessert grapes. One South Dakota source said most eastern American grapes came from Concord or its descendants.[S3] [S6]

Sources from the northern plains and upper Midwest treat Concord as important but marginal in colder regions. South Dakota recommendations listed it among the better grapes only in favorable sites, while another district list recommended it for some parts of the state.[S4] [S2] A 1979 South Dakota nursery availability list still offered it, but marked it as not dependably hardy even in the most favored areas.[S1] Minnesota nursery sources are more blunt. They said Concord was not hardy enough without winter protection for most of Minnesota, and a 1937 catalog limited it to southeastern Minnesota and similar climates with a long enough season to ripen the fruit.[S6] [S5]

Fruit descriptions in this packet are brief but consistent. Concord is described as an older dessert grape. When fully ripe, its flesh is described as juicy, sweet, pulpy, and tender.[S6] [S5] The same catalog sources stress that ripening is as much a limit as winter survival. That helps explain why Concord stayed popular in warmer or more protected districts while newer hardy grapes replaced it farther north.[S5] [S6]

Growing advice is also consistent. Concord is repeatedly treated as a vine that needs protection in northern climates. Growers were told to lay vines down in fall and cover them with earth, sometimes with manure mulch over the covering, to carry them through winter.[S4] [S5] One South Dakota bulletin also notes damage from root killing in grapes and suggests grafting onto wild grape roots as a possible remedy.[S4]

Its northern record is mixed but notable. In Ramsey, South Dakota, Oliver Gibbs, Jr. reported that Concord was among the grape varieties that gave the most fruit.[S4] In the Black Hills, another grower called Concord the only grape he could recommend. He reported two full crops in five years from one acre, though he added that the season was short and cool nights made ripening difficult.[S4]

Concord matters in the archive not because it was the hardiest grape, but because it became the standard that prairie breeders and nurseries had to improve on. Hansen's hardy grape work directly contrasts his new Brookings hardy seedlings with Concord and its offspring, which he judged too tender for South Dakota and the prairie Northwest even with careful winter protection.[S3] In that sense, Concord sits between the famous eastern American grape tradition and the later search for grapes that could truly endure the northern plains.[S3]

Summary source basis

• S1: Nursery Plants Available from South Dakota Nurseries
• S2: A Study of Northwestern Apples
• S3: Plant Introductions
• S4: Fruit Culture
• S5: Hardy fruits for Northern planting, trees, shrubs, 1937
• S6: Daniels planting guide, 1950

This summary currently draws chiefly from Fruit Culture, with 5 additional supporting sources linked below.

Featured source descriptions

“The page states that 75 percent of all grapes raised in eastern America come from this famous Concord vine and its pure breds and cross-breds.”
— ^[6]

“Concord grape is cited as showing a strong tendency to reproduce itself from seed.”
— ^[4]

“Available from nursery listings 7, 21, 22, 27, and 32.”
— ^[5]

“Marked XX: not dependably hardy even in most-favored areas of South Dakota.”
— ^[5]

Direct parent cultivars

• No direct linked parent cultivars promoted yet.

Parentage claim text

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Derived or downstream cultivar links

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Source-story quotations

• CONCORD - The most popular and most widely grown of the older dessert varieties. Because it is not hardy enough without winter protection for most of Minnesota, it is being rapidly replaced by the new varieties described below.Daniels planting guide, 1950, p29
• CONCORD - The most popular and most widely grown of the older dessert varieties. Because it is not hardy enough without winter protection for most of Minnesota, it is being rapidly replaced by the new varieties described below.Daniels planting guide, 1950, p29
• CONCORD - The most popular and most widely grown of the older dessert varieties. Because it is not hardy enough without winter protection for most of Minnesota, it is being rapidly replaced by the new varieties described below.Daniels planting guide, 1950, p29
• CONCORD - The most popular and most widely grown of the older dessert varieties. Because it is not hardy enough without winter protection for most of Minnesota, it is being rapidly replaced by the new varieties described below.Daniels planting guide, 1950, p29

Taxonomy context: No family-tree context surfaced yet.

Related cultivars mentioned in source context