As linked in WineTerriorist, interesting article in Mieninger’s on a renewed interest in hybrid grapes: HybridGrapes .
I’m assuming by “hybrid grapes”, they are referring to crosses of Vinifera with Rupestris/Rontundfolia/Labrusca/Riparia/Berlandieri/etc that are disease resistant? These hybrid grapes have a long & troubled history in France and other parts of Europe and have pretty much been driven from wine regions.
The ResDur1 varieties or Soreli (Italian hybrid) I’ve not heard of. I’m assuming these are grapes for wine production? Curious as to what the wines taste like.
This begs the question of if you can make a “natural” wine from these unnatural grapes. SweetAlice will have to way in on that one before we know the answer.
Tom
Hybrids have been around for decades in the US Northeast, with results that can historically be described, in polite company, as mixed. I believe that the term “hybrid” refers to any cross between vitis vinifera and any other vitis group. Cornell was one of the leading developers of US hybrids starting after WWII. Here’s how they describe hybrids on their site: Interspecific Hybrids
Use of hybrids in areas for which they were originally designed (e.g. Finger Lakes) has declined as farmers became more proficient in growing vinifera and the climate became more hospitable. Lately there has been renewed interest in hybrids in less hospitable regions. One example is Vermont, where La Garagista makes excellent, though not cheap, wine from hybrids. http://www.lagaragista.com. And La Garagista is indeed a Feiring favorite.