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A TEXAS SUPERSTAR Victoria Red grapes make distinctive list
June 30, 2017
By Charla Borchers Leon/Victoria County Master Gardener
Edited by Charla Borchers Leon/Victoria County Master Gardener
CONTRIBUTED PHOTO BY CHARLA BORCHERS LEON
Two clusters of Victoria Red grapes were harvested this week directly from the Tarkington vineyard and given to Master Gardener Charla Borchers Leon. Of note are the turning colors of edible skins on these grapes, some of which are approaching 25-cent coin size.
CONTRIBUTED PHOTO BY MARTHA TARKINGTON
This beautiful vine with ripe Victoria Red grapes and sky-blue background is shown ready for the June 17 harvest at Western Hills Vineyard in north Victoria on Levi Sloan Road. Owners Bob and Peggy Bailey hosted the Tarkingtons and another 25-30 helpers who joined in celebrating the harvest of some 300 vines.
Contributed photo by Martha Tarkington
These vines are filled with 18-inch clusters of Victoria Red grapes in south Victoria off U. S. Highway 77 at Tarkington Vineyard which has been home to this variety since 1982. Many years of planting, testing, record-keeping, and harvesting from this Victoria vineyard has led to the Victoria Red grapes' selection to Texas Superstar status in March of this year.
PHOTO CONTRIBUTED BY BOB BAILEY
Various Victoria Red clusters of white-skinned green grapes are shown on vines in early May this year in the Bailey's Western Hills Vineyard. These required sunshine to turn red and were ready for harvest in mid-June.
With the upcoming Fourth of July, I think of gatherings in red, white and blue celebration nationwide in observance of our country's independence. It has always been for me a day of red and white stars and stripes against a blue background and a time to celebrate freedom with family and friends in food and drink in anticipation of starbursts of distinction bursting up against the evening sky.
Grapes harvested recently here
This time of year likewise brings forth another occasion when people gather together in local vineyards to harvest ripe grapes and celebrate a successful growing season. Friends gathered together and did just that in harvesting their grapes the last couple of weekends, which was actually about two weeks ahead of projected harvest time this year.
Harvesting one variety in particular, Victoria Red, was a celebration in its own right with local roots and recent naming designation stemming from right here in Victoria. Grapes grown here in their original "white" skin ripened to red with direct sunlight beaming down from a sky-blue background. In addition this year, Victoria Red grapes burst from vines like stars in the sky with a recent title of distinction known as "Texas Superstar."
Tarkington Vineyard story
As with anything of value worth working for, Victoria's Friench and Martha Tarkington began a fascinating retirement project with grapes dating back to 1978. After moving home to Victoria from a stint in San Antonio, they were on a Southwest Airlines flight to Dallas to see a family member, picked up a magazine and read an article on Texas viticulture history and T.V. Munson about growing grapes in Texas, which reached out and caught their attention for the next several decades.
They soon acquired cuttings of a Munson variety, Champanel, and started with about 20 holes that grew to 180 planted 8 feet apart on a T-head trellis system with 10 feet between rows. Their vineyard, through time, grew to 2 acres and nearly 500 holes/plants with numerous cuttings and several varieties.
Victoria County Extension Agent Joe Janak (now retired) recorded information on six to eight grape varieties in the early 1980s and, along with the Tarkingtons, kept volumes of data. Some varieties did well here; others did not. Some were good table grapes; some made good jelly and wine.
Five to six varieties were planted at the Tarkington vineyard with cuttings from the University of Arkansas, Clarksville. It was in 1982 that the Tarkingtons acquired cuttings of the "good backyard grape" as determined by the University and identified as the Arkansas 1475.
It had tested not cold-hardy due to suffering and completely dying from freeze there. Arkansas 1475 survived cold temperatures here although vines eventually did die due to what the Tarkingtons have surmised to be Pierce's disease and/or age. But some vines have endured since the early 1980s.
More Arkansas 1475 cuttings were obtained and planted for testing in Victoria with at least two attempts to name it. The Tarkingtons were involved in each, and they in collaboration with the University of Arkansas and Texas A&M University in May 2010 officially released Victoria Red grapes.
After many trials, much data collected and shared along with very rigid field testing across the state of Texas, a long story made a good bit shorter is that the Victoria Red grapes were designated a Texas Superstar plant in March of this year, some seven years after its release, by Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Research and Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service horticulturists. And the Tarkingtons had not a clue it was being considered - or selected.
This grape has grown in the Victoria area for more than three decades and has been successful in large part due to its tolerance of disease, particularly the lethal Pierce's disease that enters vines carried by glassy-winged sharpshooters.
While this was a serious labor of love project for the Tarkingtons, there was also simple gratification in growing fresh table grapes and those for making jellies and wine, which Martha is known to do. Victoria Red is said to be a great table grape.
Red, white and blue salute
My Fourth of July celebration began early this year with Friench and Martha welcoming me to their home and vineyard and the hospitable gesture since then of them sharing a cluster of Victoria Reds. I thank them for being the humble and gracious, but predominant source in helping me, the Master Gardeners of Victoria County and Texas AgriLife Extension - Victoria County share the exciting and most-deserved announcement of Victoria Reds to Texas Superstar status.
As a friend from my childhood, I commend them with a red, white and blue salute for helping provide this horticultural starburst of distinction.
The Gardeners' Dirt is written by members of the Victoria County Master Gardener Association, an educational outreach of Texas A&M AgriLife Extension - Victoria County. Mail your questions in care of the Advocate, P.O. Box 1518, Victoria, TX 77901; or vcmga@vicad.com.
• Hang on trellis system securely
• Large vine leaf protects clusters from direct sun
• Grow well on arbor
• Great "backyard table grape"
• Tender, easily-chewable skin
• Flesh that easily separates from seeds
• Spritely-tasting grape
Source: Martha Tarkington
Clusters
• Open-spaced
• Up to 18 inches long
• Weigh up to 1 pound
Grapes
• White-skinned that turn red with sunshine
• Large, 25-cent coin size
• Oblong to round in shape
• Two-seeded
This grape has grown in the Victoria area for more than three decades and has been successful in large part due to its tolerance of disease, particularly Pierce's disease that kills off vines, its vigor and productivity in the coastal area of Texas, according to Dr. Larry Stein, AgriLife Extension horticulturist in Uvalde. Stein was one of several horticulturists who was responsible in the selection of Victoria Red grapes to superstar status this spring.
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