Muscadine Wine: The South's Native Grape, Taste and Food

Muscadine wine is made from muscadine grapes (Vitis rotundifolia), a grape species native to the southeastern United States. Most of it is sweet, and the grape has what NC State Extension calls a distinct fruity or “musky” aroma. The best-known variety is the bronze Scuppernong, North Carolina’s state fruit, and the wine is made mainly in North Carolina, Georgia, South Carolina, Florida and Mississippi. If you like sweet, fruity wines served cold, muscadine is worth a try.

What muscadine grapes are

The most widely cultivated grape in the world is Vitis vinifera, the European vine behind Merlot, Malbec and Riesling. Muscadines are a different species. The Muscadine Grape Production Guide for the Southeast, written by specialists at NC State University and the University of Georgia, describes them as native to the Southeast and probably the first native grape cultivated in the United States.

The guide lists what sets them apart from other grapes:

• Thick skins and a unique fruity aroma
• Small clusters, with berries that drop off the cluster individually when ripe; wild vines carry about 4 to 10 berries per cluster
• Unbranched tendrils on the vine
• 40 chromosomes instead of the 38 most grape species have, which makes crossing muscadines with other grapes difficult

According to the USDA plant database cited in the guide, the wild range runs east to west from Texas and Oklahoma to the Atlantic coastal plain, and south to north from Florida to Delaware. Muscadines grow in hot, humid climates and tolerate many of the diseases and pests that make European vines hard to grow in the Southeast.

Note: Muscadine is not Muscat. VinePair points out that muscadine wine is not the same as Muscat or Moscato, despite the similar names.

Scuppernong and other muscadine varieties

Muscadine berries range from bronze to dark purple or nearly black. Bronze grapes such as Carlos are the main source of white muscadine juice and wine; dark grapes such as Noble are the main source of red.

Scuppernong is the famous one. NC State Extension says the first recognized muscadine cultivar was a bronze grape found before 1760 by Isaac Alexander in Tyrrell County, North Carolina, first called the “Big White Grape” and later named Scuppernong after the area. Mississippi State Extension gives a different account, dating the find to around 1810 along the Scuppernong River, so the early history is not settled. North Carolina’s wine and grape council notes that Scuppernong is the state’s official fruit.

Over time, “scuppernong” became a catch-all name for any bronze muscadine. NC State Extension calls that incorrect, since Scuppernong is only one of many cultivars. Old names for dark muscadines include bullace and bull grape.

More than 100 muscadine cultivars have been released. These are the main wine grapes:

Variety	Color	Notes	Sugar (Clemson)
Carlos	Bronze	By far the most widely planted muscadine; the main grape for white juice and wine	About 16%
Noble	Dark	The main grape for red juice and wine	About 16%
Magnolia	Bronze	Grown mainly for wine and juice	About 15%
Doreen	Bronze	Good for wine and juice, and for eating fresh	About 14%
Scuppernong	Bronze	The historic variety; low yield, excellent flavor	About 17%

Variety roles are from the Southeast production guide, Clemson Extension and Mississippi State Extension. The production guide notes that Carlos and Noble are typically the only cultivars picked by machine for juice and wine.

A long history

Muscadine wine is old by American standards. NC State Extension reports that as early as 1565, Captain John Hawkins wrote that the Spanish settlements in Florida made large quantities of muscadine wine. The production guide describes the muscadine “mother vine” in North Carolina as one of the oldest living grapevines in the world, discovered about 400 years ago; Wine Folly places it in Manteo, on Roanoke Island.

Duplin Winery in North Carolina goes further on its product page and calls Scuppernong “the oldest wine made in America”. That is the winery’s own claim, but the long record above shows why it’s made.

Where muscadine wine is made

The production guide estimates that about 3,000 acres of muscadines were grown commercially in North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia and Florida in 2019, split between grapes for wine, jam and juice and grapes sold fresh. Wine Folly puts the total at about 3,200 acres, mainly in Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Mississippi and Florida.

Inside those states, the guide names the main growing areas as the southern Piedmont of North Carolina, the eastern coastal plain of North and South Carolina, and the Piedmont and coastal plain of Georgia. Muscadines can be grown from southeast Texas and north Florida up the Atlantic coast to southern Virginia and southern Tennessee. NC State Extension adds that colder-hardy varieties such as Carlos and Magnolia can be grown north into Virginia.

Harvest runs from August through October, according to Wine Folly. Mississippi State Extension says early varieties on the Gulf Coast ripen in mid to late August and full-season varieties in mid to late September. The grapes don’t all ripen at once, so vineyards often pick several times.

Why most muscadine wine is sweet

The short answer: the grapes are often low in sugar, so winemakers add some, and most bottles are finished sweet.

Wine Folly says ripe muscadines usually reach only about 10 to 15 Brix (a measure of grape sugar), compared with 20 or more for European wine grapes. Extension figures run higher for some varieties: Mississippi State gives a range of 13 to 25 Brix, and Clemson lists most wine varieties at about 14% to 17% sugar. Either way, there often isn’t enough natural sugar to make a wine of normal strength. Wine Folly notes that producers often chaptalize, adding sugar before fermentation, to reach about 10% alcohol. VinePair also describes adding sugar to raise the alcohol.

Most muscadine wine is also finished sweet. NC Wine, the state’s wine and grape council, files muscadine under “Muscadine & Sweet” on its product page, and its list of sweeter wines includes muscadine red and white. Dry styles do exist: Wine Folly mentions nearly dry wines with about 10 grams of sugar per liter, and VinePair also notes dry versions.

In our view, the sweet style is the place to start: it is the classic version, and it suits the grape’s ripe, fruity aroma.

What muscadine wine tastes like

Because it is a different species, muscadine has its own flavor profile, quite apart from European grapes. Wine Folly’s guide describes the wines this way:

• White (bronze grapes): intense ripe-banana aromas, plus lime, peony and honeysuckle
• Red (dark grapes): ripe banana again, plus strawberry and cranberry
• Both: some bottles show pine resin or a sharp, solvent-like note Wine Folly compares to rubber cement, with a medium-long finish

VinePair describes the wines as generally medium-bodied, with banana and white flowers in the whites and ripe red fruit in the reds, sometimes with salt, lime or pine notes.

Muscadine wine also doesn’t keep well. Wine Folly and VinePair both say muscadine wine oxidizes easily and is best drunk young. We’d buy the most recent bottle on the shelf and drink it within the year.

How to read a muscadine label

• Grape or style name. “Muscadine”, “Scuppernong”, “Carlos”, “Noble” or “Magnolia” on the label all point to muscadine grapes.
• Color. White muscadine wines usually come from bronze grapes such as Carlos and Scuppernong; red ones usually come from dark grapes such as Noble.
• Sweetness words. Look for sweet, semi-sweet or dry. If the label is silent, we’d assume sweet.

Food pairing

Sweet wine needs food that can stand up to its sugar. Our picks:

• Spicy and smoky Southern food. Barbecue with a vinegar or spicy sauce, hot fried chicken, shrimp and grits with a kick. We think a sweet wine takes the edge off chili heat.
• Salty snacks and ham. Country ham, pimento cheese, boiled peanuts. Salt and sweet balance each other.
• Desserts that are less sweet than the wine. Pound cake, peach cobbler, a fruit tart, or fresh fruit.
• Pungent cheese. A sharp blue or an aged cheddar.

Tip: If a sweet muscadine seems too sugary on its own, try it colder, or over ice with a splash of soda. Duplin Winery’s own page says its Scuppernong is best served chilled.

How to serve it

Serve both red and white muscadine wine chilled, as Wine Folly and VinePair suggest. We’d serve both straight from the fridge. Because muscadine wine oxidizes quickly, we’d also keep opened bottles in the fridge with a stopper and finish them soon.

Good-value bottles to try

Muscadine wine is usually inexpensive. The Southeast production guide uses a figure of $6 to $12 per bottle in its cost estimates, and Duplin Winery’s own shop listed its Scuppernong at $8.99 (sold out when checked in October 2026).

We don’t name specific muscadine bottles as value picks yet. Our picks follow our rating method, which needs a published critic score for a named vintage and a US shelf price checked at two or more retailers, and we haven’t completed that check for a muscadine wine.

If you’d like to try making wine yourself, our guide to how to make wine at home covers the basics.