400

Estimated age of the so-called “Mother Vine,” believed to be the oldest grape vine in North America. Planted in the late 1500s on North Carolina’s Roanoke Island, the vine belongs to America’s oldest known species of native grapes, muscadine (vitis rotundifolia) and still bears fruit today. Muscadine, which early settlers renamed “scuppernong” after the nearby river, is only half as sweet as vitis vinifera, requiring the few producers of muscadine wine to add sugar to reach even 10% abv