Enchantment and Opportunity

Two relatively new hybrids from University of Arkansas's fruit breeding program led by Dr. John Clark, are thriving in the experimental vineyard at NMUS's Los Lunas Agriculture Science Center. 

Note each below...

Enchantment is a red wine grape, that is also a 'teinturier' cultivar. Teinturier grapes have red skin and red flesh or pulp, whereas most red grapes have fairly colorless pulp. The additional anthocyanins, the pigments responsible for the red color, contribute to very dark juice. Such dark juice is useful in blending, to produce a very dark, red wine.  Enchantment has the following cultivars in its pedigree: 

Petit Syrah: As it is called in California.. is referred to as 'Durif' in France. It is late ripening, and susceptible to winter injury. Please note that Enchantment itself, however, suffered no winter damage compared to six V. vinifera cultivars (Albarino, Montepulciano, Tempranillo, Malbec, Malvasia Bianca, and Petit Verdot) planted at the same location.  

Alicante Bouschet: A widely known teinturier cultivar, that itself was a result of a controlled cross of, and selection from, Grenache x Petit Bouschet.

Bouschet Petit: A result of a cross of Aramon noir x Teinturier, Sometimes referred to as Petit Bouschet. It is a parent of the more popular Alicante Bouschet.

Salvador: A hybrid from the early 20th century, with the cultivar 'Munson' in its lineage

'Enchantment', a red hybrid winegrape from the University of Arkansas, in third leaf at the Los Lunas, Agriculture Science Center experimental vineyard, in Los Lunas NM, July 15, 2020.

'Opportunity', a white hybrid winegrape, from the University of Arkansas, in third leaf at the Los Lunas, Agriculture Science Center experimental vineyard, in Los Lunas NM, July 15, 2020.

Rkatsiteli x Semillon was crossed with Cayuga White to produce the white hybrid grape, Opportunity.