Saturday, February 21, 2015

Strangebird on the loose - Jaquez




Jacquez is a variety or a group of varieties from the species Vitis bourquiniana, sometimes called bourquina. It is believed to have originated in the Eastern United States. As it is not in the Vitis vinifera species it is not susceptible to Phylloxera and is can be used for resistantrootstocks.

Jaquez (also known variously as Lenoir, Jacquet, Jack, Blue French, Ohio, and El Paso,is a  hybrid grape resulting from a cross of the American Vitis aestivalis species of grape with an unknown Vitis vinifera pollen donor. This hybridisation may have occurred naturally, as was the case with many of the early American grape cultivars. From its wild South Carolina parent, Lenoir carries natural resistance to the Phylloxera pest. On the Granite Belt, Ridgemill Estate grow Jaquez on their Severnlea vineyard.

The intensely coloured berries have a dark coloured juice with a distinctive flavour. Jaquez also has the distinction of being banned by France in 1935.