Official State Grape

Approximately 150 commercial vineyards and wineries have operated in Arkansas since 1870. In 2009, the Arkansas General Assembly took note of this agricultural mainstay when it designated the Cynthiana, a native grape, as Arkansas’s official state grape.

Act 547 was introduced as House Bill 2193 by Representatives Beverly Pyle of Cedarville (Crawford County) and Kathy Webb of Little Rock (Pulaski County). The measure was introduced at the suggestion of Audrey House, proprietor of the Chateau Aux Arc vineyards in Franklin County, to draw attention to the survival and rising reputation of Arkansas vintages. Arkansas’s grape-growing industry is small, however, in comparison to that of such viticultural powerhouses as California. Between 2007 and 2009, acres of cultivated grapes ranged between 750 and 600, including production both for wine-making and fresh local consumption.

Cynthiana (Vitis aestivalis) is the oldest native North American grape in commercial cultivation today. It was first identified as early as 1770, and one nineteenth-century authority suggested that it was native to Arkansas. The Cynthiana, sometimes referred to as the “Cabernet of the Ozarks,” is almost identical to the Norton grape, refined and cultivated by Virginia physician Dr. Daniel Norborne Norton and commercially available by 1830.

The Cynthiana is a winter-hardy and highly disease-resistant variety, with a low per-acre yield (compared to more common wine or table grape varieties) and a high skin-to-juice ratio. Wine made from the Cynthiana grape is high in resveratrol, a chemical found in all red wines and sometimes credited with helping prevent arterial clogging. Arkansas and Missouri are the nation’s main producers of the grape, which, under the name of Norton/Cynthiana, was designated Missouri’s state grape in 2003.

Growers at Chateau Aux Arc blame climate change for the wet weather that has created conditions for esca grape disease and mycroplasma on Cynthiana vines. Chateau Aux Arc stopped selling vines to other growers in 2019 to help prevent the spread of disease.

For additional information:
Gettinger, Aaron. “Vintners Adjust to Changing Weather.” Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, October 19, 2023, 1D, 2D. Online at https://www.nwaonline.com/news/2023/oct/19/altus-winegrowers-see-climate-change-affecting/ (accessed October 23, 2023).

Hamilton, Lynn. Chasing Cynthiana: My Search for America’s Native Wines. Lincoln, NE: Potomac, 2024.

Main, Gary. “Growing and Vinting Cynthiana Norton Grapes.” Proceedings of the 24^th Annual Horticulture Industries Show, Fort Smith, Arkansas, January 14–15, 2005.

Reishch, B. I., R. Goodman, M. H. Martens, and N. Weeden. “The Relationship between Norton and Cynthiana, Red Wine Cultivars Derived from vitis aestivalis.” American Journal of Enology and Viticulture 44 (December 1993): 441–444.

Smiley, Lisa Ann, P. Domoto, G. Nonnecke, and W. W. Miller. “A Review of Cold Climate Cultivars: Cynthiana/Norton.” Iowa State University Horticulture. https://www.extension.iastate.edu/viticulture/cold-climate-cultivars (accessed February 9, 2022).

Ware, David. It’s Official! The Real Stories behind Arkansas’s State Symbols. 2nd ed. Little Rock: Butler Center Books, 2017.

David Ware
Arkansas Secretary of State’s Office