Don’t Miss Scarlett
Commercial growers harvest the grapes from around 1,200 Georgia acres each year.Gerard Krewer, a UGA extension horticulturist, figures nearly twice that many grow inthe state’s backyard gardens. But Scarlett’s taste, not its color, shines most in muscadine lovers’ eyes. “I decided to name it Scarlett because of the fruit’s color and in keeping with the ‘Gonewith the Wind’ theme which began with the release of Tara,” Ron Lane said. Lane released Tara, Scarlett’s sibling variety, in 1993. Both came from crossesbetween Summit and Triumph muscadines, which Lane also bred. Margaret Mitchell’s Scarlett O’Hara stood out among the other characters of herfamous novel. The new grape stands out, too. Unlike most muscadines, Scarlett’s fruitis red. Scarlett will be available this fall through Ison’s Nursery in Brooks, Ga., and Bottoms’Nursery in Concord, Ga. The two nurseries hold propagation rights to Scarlett underthe University’s patent. “Scarlett consistently rates very high in taste panel evaluations,” Lane said. “It’s anattractive fruit, and if the fruit looks good, a person is more apt to sample it.” In comparison tests, Scarlett produced higher yields and larger fruit than othervarieties. Over three years of testing, Scarlett produced an average of 76 pounds pervine.
Muscadine grapes are popular fresh fruit in the Southeast. They ripen in early fall,when few other fruits are in season. In field tests, Scarlett vines prove to be vigorous, productive and tolerant of mostmuscadine diseases. The fruit ripens over two to three weeks beginning in earlySeptember. Lane, a UGA horticulturist in the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences,bred the new grape at the Georgia Experiment Station in Griffin. The fruit’s color is reminiscent of Higgins, a muscadine the Georgia Station released in1955. However, Scarlett is much brighter and cleaner than Higgins. The grapes grow well throughout the state except in the high mountains, Krewer said.They’re best planted in the dormant season. County extension agents can tell you howto grow them. Don’t expect a new grape to become as well-known as its namesake. But Scarlett, apatented muscadine variety being released by the University of Georgia, is likely toplease the state’s muscadine lovers.