Alwood Grapes

Alwood (Fredonia x Athens) From the Virginia Polytechnic Institute. Alwood looks like a black Concord with larger berries, but ripens about 3 weeks earlier than Concord. Alwood has an unusually pronounced labrusca aroma that perfumes the air for some distance away from the vine. Very productive, often having three clusters to a shoot. The vine has unusually short internodes. That is, the buds are close together on the shoots. This makes the shoots short and gives the plant a compact, bushy look. It's productivity and compact size make it good for smaller spaces, or possibly even in a large pot.

Hardy to at least -15 to -20oF. Seems to do well on a wide range of soils, and has above average disease resistance. A grower in Tennessee reported it as being the healthiest of his varieties, which is significant given the level of disease possible in that area.

Alwood can be trained to cordons or canes, though given the shortness of the canes, I have found cordons with two bud spurs give as much production as the vine can handle and still mature the fruit well.