Scuppernong Grapes and Wines

A few weeks ago, on my way home from the beach, I stopped at the Duplin Winery.

I've always wanted to  go to a winery and learn more about wines.  

This winery makes wine from the scuppernong grapes.  A unique kind of grape.  That is only grown in this part of the country.  The scuppernong grape is the state fruit.  (I didn't know states have a state fruit.)  It was very interesting learning about the history and processing of the different type of wines.

History

The name comes from the Scuppernong River in North Carolina mainly along the coastal plain. It was first mentioned as a "white grape" in a written logbook by the Florentineexplorer Giovanni de Verrazzano while exploring the Cape Fear River Valley in 1524.^[3] He wrote "...Many vines growing naturally there...". Sir Walter Raleigh's explorers, the captains Phillip Amadas and Arthur Barlowe, wrote in 1584 that North Carolina's coast was "...so full of grapes as the very beating and surge of the sea overflowed them...in all the world, the like abundance is not to be found." He may have been referring to Sargasso seaweed from coral reefs, which can been seen washed up on shore after a major storm off of the NC coast. The seaweed has berry like gas filled bladders looking much like grapes to keep the fronds afloat. However in 1585, Governor Ralph Lane, when describing North Carolina to Raleigh, stated that "We have discovered the main to be the goodliest soil under the cope of heaven, so abounding with sweet trees that bring rich and pleasant, grapes of such greatness, yet wild, as France, Spain, nor Italy hath no greater...".

It was first cultivated during the 17th century, particularly in Tyrell County, North Carolina. Isaac Alexander found it while hunting along the banks of a stream feeding into Scuppernong Lake in 1755; it is mentioned in the North Carolina official state toast.^[4] The name itself traces back to the Algonquian word ascopo meaning "sweet bay tree".

In general, for me, the wines were a little too sweet. I did buy their 'Christmas Wine', which they only make once a year, and a non-alcoholic wine for Brandi.