Vitis Labrusca - Wine Regions

Wine Regions

Vitis labrusca can be found along the eastern seaboard of North America from Nova Scotia down to Georgia and westward to the Mississippi river. Among the Canadian wine regions and American Viticultural Areas (AVA)s that produce wine from labrusca or hybrids derived from labrusca include Ontario, Upper Mississippi Valley, Mississippi Delta, Ohio River Valley, Southeastern New England, Lake Erie as well as several AVAs in the states of New York, Virginia, Ohio and Michigan.

Unlike vinifera, hybrids and Vitis labrusca varieties can better withstand the severe continental conditions of eastern North America with severely cold winters and hot, humid summers. (However, labrusca doesn't do quite as well as varieties like Vitis rotundifolia in the humidity of southeastern US). In fact, in areas of the United States where vinifera does flourish in the west, the conditions during the growing season are often too arid for labrusca vines.