Bluebell

The title of this article is ambiguous. For the plant genus called bluebell in English, see the rabbit bell , for the museum railway in southern England see the Bluebell Railway .

Bluebell is a red wine variety bred by A. Wilcox (or MJ Dorsey) in 1923 . It is a cross between the Beta grape variety and an unknown variety that is believed to have come from a wild variety of the Vitis labrusca variety .

At the University of Minnesota , the grapevine breeding institute in the state of Iowa, where bluebell originated, increased efforts have been made to breed extremely hardy grape varieties since the 1980s. Recently, Frontenac , Frontenac Gris , La Crescent and Marquette varieties have been launched.

Bluebell is used in the cool climate of the northern states of the United States such as Iowa (→ viticulture in Iowa ) and in Canada as table grapes and grapes.

Synonym: Minnesota 158.

Parentage: Beta x unknown.

Ampelographic varietal characteristics

In ampelography , the habitus is described as follows:

• The cylindrical grape is medium-sized, very broadly shouldered and very loose. The round berries are medium-sized and bluish-black in color.

The grape variety that does not sprout too early ripens early so that it can mature in cool locations but is not endangered by late spring frosts. In addition, it has a very good winter hardiness. It is moderately susceptible to powdery mildew , downy mildew and gray mold rot .

See also

• List of grape varieties
• Viticulture in the United States
• Viticulture in Canada

Web links

• Bluebell in the database Vitis International Variety Catalog of the Institute for Grapevine Breeding Geilweilerhof (English)
• Variety description of the Bluebell vine in English (PDF) (41 kB)