The red grape variety (also New York 12-696) is an interspecific new breeding between Wayne (Mills x Ontario) x Sheridan(Herbert x Worden). It contains genes from Vitis labrusca and Vitis vinifera. The hybrid was crossed in the USA in 1825 by the two breeders Richard Wellington and G. D. Oberle. The vine was named after the German-American General Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben (1730-1794), who was very popular in the USA and who had served as a Prussian officer under King Frederick the Great (1712-1786). In 1777 he went to North America and was the Inspector General of George Washington's (1732-1799) army from 1778 to 1784 in the American War of Independence against the English. The variety was a crossing partner in the two new varieties Corot Noir and Noiret.
The medium to late ripening, high-yielding vine is susceptible to black rot, but generally well resistant to many vine diseases and frost down to minus 29 °Celsius. It produces wines with a discreet fox tone, which are produced as rosé or lightly vinified white wines (blanc de noirs). However, it is mainly used for table grape and grape juice production. The variety is widespread in the eastern and midwestern USA and is grown in smaller stands in, for example, the states of Illinois, Indiana (10 ha), New Hampshire, Iowa (3 ha), New York (8 ha) and Pennsylvania (18 ha). In 2016, a total of 35 hectares of vineyards were designated (Kym Anderson statistics).
Source: Wine Grapes / J. Robinson, J. Harding, J. Vouillamoz / Penguin Books Ltd. 2012
Images: Ursula Brühl, Doris Schneider, Julius Kühn-Institut (JKI)
