Wine Grapes of Missouri

Missouri's climate is good for growing grapes. The winters, however, are too cold to reliably grow some popular California grape varieties. The most widely grown Missouri variety is Cynthiana/Norton. Which is considered to be the only native American grape that can make good dry table wine.

Common Grape Varietals

Baco noir
A red wine grape variety that produces a medium body, deeply tinted, wine with good acidity.

Catawba
Catawba is a purplish-red grape with a sweet and sometimes foxy flavor.

Chancellor
It makes a pretty good red to rose wine.

Chelois
Used in the production of red wines. The fruit are small blue-black berries, which appear in compact, medium-sized clusters. Not known as a hardy red wine hybrid.

Chambourcin
The grape produces a deep colored red wine with a medium-body.

Concord
They are often used to make grape jelly and grape juice. Most commercially produced Concord wines have a sweet finish, but dry versions are possible as well.

Cynthiana
Cynthiana and Norton are usually used interchangeably. While very similar, it is believed that Cynthiana is a mutation of Norton.

The Deleware Grape
The Delaware grape is typically used for the table and wine production. It grows small clusters with small berries. The wine is light pink to white in color.

Isabella
The Isabella grape is derived from the grape species Vitis Labrusca or fox grape.

Norton
Norton is likely a hybrid of one or more native varieties and one Vitis vinifera grape. It typically makes a medium-bodied dry red.

Seyval Blanc
Seyval Blanc is used to make white wines.

Vidal Blanc
A white wine grape with grapefruit and pineapple notes. It typically produces high sugar levels while maintaining good acid levels.

Vignoles
It makes a wine with a sweet, floral bouquet and a clean crisp sweet flavor balanced with some acidity.