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| The vines of the Colombipark with the Schloessle (little castle) behind |
Spending 3 months in 1964 at Freiburg-im-Breisgau for a Semester in Germanistik at the Albrecht-Luwigs Universitat we must have passed by this extraordinary vineyard right on the road from the Hauptbahnhof to the Muensterplatz scores of times.
The name Colombipark by the way comes from that of a noblewoman, Maria Gertrudis Antonia Clementina Clombi y de Bode (1809–1863). Her father was said to have been the last male descendant of Christopher Columbus. She commissioned the Colombischloessle in whose grounds the park is situated.
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| The Weinlehrpfad or Wine learning path. |
After the war the Schloessle became a museum and the park was planted with plane trees and presumably also the vineyard and what is known as a Weinlehrpfad.
No wines worth drinking have ever been made from the grapes varieties in this vineyard. Some of the vines have been used as rootstock. That isn't our area so we don't know if they are still being cultivated for that purpose.
Nevertheless, please take a look at the following. You will discover the significance of some of these ancestor varieties and who knows, maybe feel a fondness for one or other.
Okanagan Riesling
The white grape variety (also Inkameep Riesling) originates from the USA. It is a descendant of an American wild vine Vitis Labrusca. According to a second variant, it is said to be an interspecific cross between Vitis Betlandieri x Vitis Riparia. According to this, thehbrid was crossed in Hungary, where it was allegedly used by Sigmund Teleki (1854-1910) for breeding rootstocks.
The late-maturing, frost-hardy vine produces white wines with a light muscat flavour. It was named after the Okanagan Valley in British Columbia, where half a hectare was recorded in 2016 (Kym Anderson).
Oberlin 595
A red hybrid obrained by Christian Oberlin (Alsace). Gamay x Vitis Riparia. American wild grape. Parent of Oberlin Noir which is still cultivated in France and to a lesser degree in Paraguay.
FR 540-22
Rootstock highly resistant to Phylloxera. A crossing from Vitis Cinerea.
From seedlings. Helmut Becker (1927-1990) obtained the first completely phylloxera-resistant rootstock "Börner" from Vitis Cinerea. New cultivars with Vitis cinerea genes include Chambourcin, Norton, Frontenac, Johanniter, and L'Acadie Blanc among others.
Vitis Monticola
This wild American vine occurs in the southwestern USA by the Colorado River and in New Mexico and Texas. It prefers sandy or loamy soils and has high resilience against drought or dryness. It has no significance as a wine grape for wine production but is used for its good properties in crossbreeding.
Vitis Labrusca
The most well-known Labrusca variety is Concord from which about three-quarters of all American grape varieties in the eastern USA are derived. Other varieties with at least some Vitis labrusca genes include Baco Blanc, Bolero, Cabernet Cantor, Helios, Isabella, Noah, Norton and many others.
Isabella
The vine was found in a garden near the (no longer existing) town of Dorchester, South Carolina. According to Bernard Laspeyre, it is said to have travelled from Spain to Charleston, South Carolina. The amateur breeder George Gibbs from Brooklyn (who introduced many grape varieties from Austria and the Habsburg monarchy a few years later, including Zinfandel) passed it on to William Robert Prince from Long Island, the owner of the "Linnean Botanic Garden" nursery, around 1816. He selected the vine and named it "Vitis isabellae" in 1822 in honour of Gibbs' wife Mrs Isabella Gibbs.
It has long been assumed that it is a seedling of a wild vine of the specied Vitis Labrusca. This was also assumed by the German ampelographer Rudolf Goethe (1843-1911, a distant relative of the poet Goethe. However, the US botanist Thomas V. Munson (1843-1913), who in 1909 assumed a cross between Vitis labrusca and an unknown European Vitis Vinifera, doubted this. This was confirmed by DNS analyses carried out in 2016: Isabella originates from a presumably natural cross between Vitis Labrusca and Petit Meslier of all things.
Isabella is found in many areas including the southern states of the former USSR.
Triomphe d'Alsace
Our 'disaster' grape (see this blog). Very obliging and nice grape juice but we don't advise making wine with it even in blends.
The red grape variety is an interspecific new breed between M.G. 101-14 S.P. (Riparia x Rupestris) x Knipperle. It contains genes from Vitis riparia, Vitis rupestris and Vitis vinifera. The crossing of the hybrids took place in the early 20th century at the Oberlin Institute in Colmar-Elsass by the French breeder Eugène Kuhlmann (1858-1932). The early ripening grape variety vine is resistant to both mildew and Botrytis. It produces dark-colored red wines that exhibit a subtle foxiness. Triomphe is cultivated in England, Denmark, Canada (3 ha), the Netherlands, and in Switzerland (0.2 ha). In 2016, 3 hectares of vineyard area were recorded (Kym Anderson).
Seibel 7053
The red grape variety (aka. Chancellor Noir), is an interspecific new breed between Seibel 5163 (Seibel 2510 x Gaillard 2) x Seibel 880 (Couderc 28-112 x Seibel 2003). It contains genes from Vitis labrusca, Vitis lincecumii, Vitis rupestris, and Vitis vinifera. The crossing of the hybrid was carried out by the breeder Albert Seibel (1844-1936). The variety was very popular in France (especially in the Rhône) and covered 40,000 hectares. After the ban on hybrid vines by the EU, the areas were abandoned or cleared. It was (often under Seibel 7053) a crossing partner in the new breeds Bolero, Cabernet Cantor, Chambourcin and Hibernal. The early ripening vine is resistant to frost but very susceptible to both types of mildew. It produces dark-colored, spicy red wines. The variety is grown in the US states of Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Nebraska, New York, North Carolina, and Pennsylvania on 34 hectares. Smaller stocks also exist in Canada (3 ha) and in Switzerland (0.5 ha). In 2016, a total of 38 hectares of vineyard area were reported. (Kym Anderson).
Vitis Riparia Pubescens
Vitis riparia pubescens is a subspecies of Vitis riparia. While the term "pubescens" is often associated with hairy or downy surfaces, it is less used in scientific contexts. Essentially, Vitis riparia is a native North American grapevine known for its cold-hardiness and ability to grow in various soil types
Vitis riparia is the most widely distributed wild grape species in North America, primarily found in the southern Canada, as well as in almost all U.S. states except the southernmost ones.
New cultivars with Vitis riparia genes include Baco Blanc, Baco Noir, Clinton, Frontenac, L'Acadie Blanc, Leon Millot, Marechal Foch and Noah.
Vitis Rupestris
The vine mainly occurs in the temperate, warm areas in the southwest of the United States in treeless prairies. These are primarily the U.S. states of Arkensas, Illinois, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Tennessee and Texas. Unlike other wild vines, it is not a climbing plant, has a high light and heat requirement, and grows as a small bush mainly on dry sand, gravel, and rubble soils along mountain rivers, as well as in dried-up riverbeds.
The vine is resistant to both powdery mildew types, heat-tolerant, but sensitive to drought, frost, and calcareous soils. The resistance to the grape phylloxera is excellent, very good against nodules, and good against tubercles. It develops a deep root system. Although the vine does not have a foxy character, it is not used for wine production but mainly for crossbreeding due to its characteristics.
Varieties include Cabernet Cantor, Chambourcin, Chancellor, Couderc Noir, Johanniter, Merzling, Phoenix, Regent, Rinot, Seyval Blanc, Sirius, Triomphe d'Alsace, Vidal and Villard Blanc.
Kober 125 AA Klon FR 26
125 AA is a rootstock highly tolerant to the root form of phylloxera
This variety results from the crossbreeding of Vitis berlandieri and Vitis riparia derived from Euryale Rességuier.
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