Champanel Bunch Grapes

Champanel (V. Champini x Worden)

Characteristics

Culture

Champanel bunch grapes are extremely well-adapted to South and East Texas; it is an outstanding garden grape because of its ease of culture and natural resistance to insect and disease pests. Champanel grape clusters are small to medium sized with large purple seeded, slip-skin berries. A typical cluster has up to 30 berries. Champanel vines have a procumbent (downward) growth habit with pubescent shoots and leaves; they have a moderate yield, producing 10 to 20 pounds of fruit with a spacing of 8 to 10 feet between vines. Champanel is typically grown as un-grafted or own-rooted vines. It has been used as root-stock due to its tolerance to a wide range of soil conditions and possible tolerance to cotton root rot.

Noteworthy Characteristics

Champanel is an interspecific hybrid developed in 1892 by T.V. Munson in Denison, Texas. It is a cross between the native Texas species Vitis champinii and the Worden cultivar. Worden is a Vitis labrusca hybrid grape, similar to Concord. As such, Champanel resembles Concord in appearance and flavor but is better adapted to the growing conditions in Texas.

Problems

• Champanel has good resistance to most fungal diseases.
• Anthracnose can cause losses in East Texas with wet conditions in the spring.
• The major insect pest of Champanel is the grape leaf folder moth which generally does not greatly injure vines but gives them an unsightly appearance.
• Can develop serious iron chlorosis problems on some poorly drained, high pH soils.
• Champanel grapes are very acidic until fully ripe.

Uses

Champanel is very popular for arbors and other structures due to its attractive appearance and fruit; it has eye-catching fall color with lots of reds, oranges, and yellows. When ripe, the grapes are purple with strong flavor hinting at blueberry. They make excellent jelly and are often used to make juice or a fruity-flavored red wine.