🍇 Portland

Portland is a white table grape variety, an interspecific hybrid from the United States. It was bred at the New York State Agricultural Experiment Station in Geneva, New York, which is now part of Cornell University (Cornell AgriTech). VIVC dates the cross to 1912, and Cornell's list of varieties gives the same year as the release date; the breeding number is NY 4393.

According to the breeder, the parents are Champion and Lutie; this pedigree has not been checked with DNA markers. Both parents are old American varieties. According to Ulysses Hedrick (1908), Champion, of unknown origin, had been grown in New York State since about 1870: it is early, hardy and productive, but of mediocre flavour. Lutie is a chance seedling from near Nashville, Tennessee, released in 1885; Hedrick valued it for vigour, cold hardiness and disease resistance. The US genebank (GRIN), which keeps Portland in its Geneva collection, describes the berries as large and green, the clusters as large and compact, and vine vigour as medium. Two Cornell varieties descend from Portland: Athens (1938, Hubbard × Portland) and Kendaia (1939, Portland × Hubbard).

Why it matters to you. Portland is an example of early Cornell breeding, which combined the hardiness of American varieties with suitability for the table. Five collections in Germany, India, Japan and the United States still keep it, so it remains available to researchers and breeders. In catalogues it is also worth searching for under the number NY 4393.