Narrative
Type = American Hybrid. Per Bush and Son and Meissner (see citation): "Bunch medium to large, shouldered, under unfavorable circumstances, or on badly pruned, overloaded vines the bunches are loose and not shouldered; berries small, round, dark bluish-purple, nearly black, covered with light bloom; flesh tender, no pulp, juicy, sweet and vinous; very rich in coloring matter; a magnificent grape for the south, too tender and too late in ripening for the United States. In favorable localities desirable for wine and table. Vine a fine grower, but a tardy bearer; foliage deeply lobed." Per T.V. Munson (see citation): "Vine vigorous, but less so than Herbemont; foliage larger and darker green, and very sensitive to downy mildew in moist regions, also the fruit to Black Rot, but in Southwest Texas it flourishes in health and bears great crops of very long, rather open clusters of round, small, black berries, with rich sprightly red juicy; makes a fine claret; ripens a little before Herbemont." Per U.P. Hedrick (see citation): "Vine vigorous, thrifty, semi-hardy, usually quite productive . . . Leaves from two to seven lobed, usually five, and of a characteristic bluish-green color above and a more pale green below. Clusters quite variable, medium to very large, tapering, usually shouldered. Berries small to medium, round, of a dark bluish-purple, nearly black, with lilac bloom. Skin rather thick, tough. Flesh slightly juicy, tender, subacidly sweet, very rich in coloring matter." Information taken from http:\\www.wine-lovers-page.com\wineguest\wgg.html: "[Black Spanish] is an oldline 19th century bunchgrape, derived from a cross between an unknown Vinifera and native American V. bourquiniana (V. aestivalis?) species, recommended for use in the lower Gulf States of the U.S.A. However reports indicate a low sugar and acid balance in mature fruit and it is no longer high on the recommondation list for those areas. Thought by some to have a clonal relationship to Herbemont . . ."