Scuppernong (scupper-NONG)

The name in Native American Algonquin language means “place where magnolias grow”—a reference to the area near the mid Atlantic U.S. island called Roanoke Island and near the Atlantic coasts of Virginia and North Carolina where scuppernong is thought to have originated as one of the first American wines. It belongs to the native American species Vitis rotundifolia. Around year 1607, the Jamestown colonists are thought to have made wine from scuppernong grapes they found growing in Virginia. And by the nineteenth century, the wine was so popular, North Carolina became the leading grape producer in the United States.