Organic Black Currant Wine,Estonia Private Label (OEM) price supplier

Currants, in red, white and black varieties, are native to central and northern European countries. These very winter-hardy plants eventually made their way into family gardens in France, England, Germany and Austria, so that by the midsixteenth century, the red and white varieties were being imported from Europe to the colonies in New York and the New England for cultivation.

Officially, currants are a fruit-bearing shrub, classified as part of the genus of plants known as Ribes. This family includes red and white currants (Ribes rubrum, R. sativum, and R. petraeum), and black currants (Ribes nigrum), all of which were cultivated in northern Europe. Red and white currants grow on strands or clusters that range from two to five inches long, while black currants grow on much shorter stemmed clusters of about three to five berries. The currant berry is about the size of a small-to-medium sized blueberry. Currants ripen at a time of year when other fruits are scarce – they bud in the early spring and their crop is often harvested right after the Fourth of July. Just like grapes and fruit trees, currants must be pruned early before budding so that they can bear a suitable crop.

Currants are by nature northern plants and they thrive in cooler climates, which is why they are extensively grown in northern and central Europe, in countries such as Germany, Poland and Russia. In North America, they grow well in New York, New England, Michigan, and Canada. The deciduous bushes can reach up to five feet tall and are just as wide, and prefer heavy, damp, rich clay to loam soils that retain moisture; they like morning sun and afternoon part-shade so that their leaves do not scorch.

In the U.S., currants – red, white and black – have traditionally been used to make jams, jellies, preserves, pies, tarts, Sauces to accompany meats, and yes, Alcoholic beverages such as cassis, liqueurs, and wines (more on that to come). In early America currants were deemed to have medicinal properties (they are, in fact, high in vitamin C and other antioxidants), so they were also used in home remedies and elixirs of all sorts.

Currants in the Hudson Valley In the early part of the twentieth century, according to agricultural census information, New York State ranked first in the production of red currants, with a good percentage being grown in the Hudson Valley. Approximately 2,671 acres of red and white currants were grown in New York in 1919, however, due to a destructive blight that affected currants from 1891 to 1913, the acreage gradually declined to 1,306 acres in 1929, 540 acres in 1954, and only 393 acres in 1959. After that, red and white currants became a “specialty crop” that was only grown in Chautauqua County, and the fruit growing areas of the Hudson Valley.

Historically, because of their growth habit and tolerance of shade, a common practice was to grow currant bushes under grape vines within the vineyard, or under fruit trees which were often planted at the end of every other vineyard row. Red and white currants were commercially popular in the Hudson Valley and were most often used together, since jams and preserves made solely with white currants were thought to be unappealing in appearance.