OH! You mango-guys are having TOO MUCH FUN!
At the CRFG/San Diego plant sale at Bancroft Sustainability Center last week, we moved a lot of new mangos -- Fruit Punch, Maha Chanok, Val Carrie, Alphonso, Alampur Baneshan, and many others. SO IMPRESSED AND INSPIRED by your account of this enormous tasting event!
So in response, I'm planning a grape-tasting for mid-August 2020 that'll knock your socks off. I grow at five different locations, and will pull together whatever is ripe mid-August. I'm listing about 40 varieties, most will be in good shape mid-August.
Northminster Presbyterian church by Clairmont Square:
Black Eagle Large clusters, large berries, 19th. C Exhibition grape. Mellow Concord with a bit of blueberry wine flavor when perfectly ripe. Vine is female, needs hand-pollination for full clusters.
Dutchess, White, "Dutchess dots," racy flavor that makes you keep going back for more.
(Goldfinger and Madresfield Court in future years)
Goldfinger is a yellow witch-finger type just released from Japan.
Madresfield Court is an exquisite hot-house grape from England.
Swenson Red. Strawberry flavor, dumb-bell clusters, small crunchable seeds.
(Kyoshusanjaku in future years, a long pink Japanese wine grape with tough skins.)
New York Muscat. EXQUISITE muscat flavor, healthy vine!
Bronx Seedless (MAYBE, it doesn't sweeten up in Clairmont.)
Yellow with pink blush, mild fruity flavor.
Lemon Grove:
Joy: new seedless with INTENSE sugar, acid, fruity flavor. Makes every other grape taste like WATER.
Golden Muscat. Large berries, citrus/muscat flavor.
Muscat Hamburg. CLASSIC pure vinifera for rich muscat flavor.
Uzbekistan Muscat. HUGE clusters, mild muscat flavor.
Kyoho. Huge tetraploid with sophisticated Conocord/muscat flavor; slip-skin.
Captivator Small pink clusters, fruity flavor.
Orange Muscat. rich bouquet of orange blossoms.
Muscat Blanc a Petits Grain. Origin of muscat flavors.
Hillcrest, between two houses.
Delaware small pink berries, fruity flavor, Standard 19th C grape. Small, seedy berries and paper-like skin make it a JAM grape.
Jefferson Iona x Concord, MUCH better looking than Iona, has much of Iona's exquisite fruity flavor & melting texture.
Seneca spicy flavor like white gum-drops; crunchy berries. Bad vine, must be grafted.
Steuben Concord + Spicy flavor.
Goethe. A Roger's hybrid of enormous historical significance for being part of the first wave of vinifera x labrusca crossings. Muscat Hamburg, sophisticated vinifera, x 'Sage'/'Mammoth,' an extremely primitive and healthy American labrusca with five pink berries to the cluster. The two strains are VISIBLY fighting in the roughly textured leaves...
Neptune. You know that fruity banana-oil you smell when going by an auto-paint-shop? Neptune has that in spades, but in a good way.
Eumelan. Black Supposed to be spicy-flavored. Pretty mild last year.
Concord. Nasty, in comparison to all the other, better, newer grapes available now, but important for history & comparison. Vine produces like crazy however you prune it.
Diamond Small yellow-green berries with rich apple/Lemon/Mineral flavors.
Bancroft Sustainability Center:
1 Compassion (still on waiting list, no vine yet) Dr. Clark of U Ark, the breeder, tells me I should forget about 'Cotton Candy,' the fruit/muscat flavor and crunchy texture of his new seedless grape, Compassion, will blow it out of the water.
2 Faith Blue, seedless, slight fruity flavor.
3 Gratitude New Crunchy-textured white grape, had first cluster this August, very nice.
4 Hope Green/White, fruity.
5 Joy AMAZINGLY INTENSE sugar/acid/fuity flavor! Little blue footballs, seedless.
6 Jupiter Seedless blue, good disease resistance, every berry is a rush of ethereal muscat flavor. Skin is munchy-munchy like coleslaw, tho.
7 Reliance Seedless fruity pink, said to have fruity bouquet of Pink grapefruit.
8 Everest (not fruiting until 2021) New release from Cornell: Concord flavor, but seedless, twice as a big, and with better skin and better texture; juicy with Concord flavor.
9 Aromella New wine-grape from Cornell; said to have honeysuckle, citrus, muscat, and pineapple flavors. AND IT DOES!
10 New York Muscat Overwhelmingly beautiful muscat flavor. Everyone is always amazed by this grape! And the vine is healthy even right by the coast.
11 Canada Muscat (said to have Passionfruit flavor)
12 Steuben excellent Spicy Concord flavor
13 Buffalo Looks like Concord, but more fruity/spicy, less Welchy.
14 Keuka pink, vinous, recommended by Reisch of Cornell, rather astringent here.
15 Wapanuka White, top-quality, with a subtle, haunting spicy, smoky muscat flavor.
16 Herbemont "The old Texas Brown Grape." 1/2" berries, said to be good for table as well as wine.
17 Atoka America x Delaware
18 Fern Munson Off-spring of Catawba; said to have same foxy flavor, but better disease-resistance.
19 Diamond Muscat New seedless yellow muscat. Jury is out which of these two is the stronger muscat. Both are powerful growers.
20 Summer Muscat New seedless yellow muscat.
CACG by SDSU
Golden Champion. Large golden berries, rich muscat flavor; a hold-over from the 19th C hot-house tradition, still grown in UK. Needs help with pollination here.
Delicatessen. A wine-grape from Munson, 3/4 native TX grapes in its breeding. Foliage is deep green, rugose, sturdy, and sturdy, no disease-problems. Canes are purple. Berries have super-strong fruity perfume of Concord grapes, raspberries, and other fruits. Makes a LUSCIOUS jam.
Keep in touch for details!
---Mark Miner