Delicious
Cultivar Information
Flower type = Self-fertile
Berry color = Black
Year introduced = 2009
Variety protection = Unpatented
History
'Delicious' was introduced by Dennis Gray of the University of Florida in 2009. It was selected from the cross 'AA10-40' x 'CD8-81'. AA10-40 is a medium-sized bronze grape, and CD8-81 is self-fertile black selection with large berries. If you go back another generation, 'Summit', 'Fry', and 'Southland' are grandparents. The full pedigree is given in the paper linked below. 'Delicious' was selected for its early harvest, good yields, and disease resistance.
Comments
We have not trialed 'Delicious' yet at Tifton so I don't have much information to add here. I have seen it in a commercial vineyard in Ocilla, GA. The first year of production it looked very nice. In the second year, it set too many berries and sweetness was lower and harvest date was later. It appears that it is another self-fertile variety that is going to have problems with setting too large of a crop, similar to 'Granny Val' or 'Nesbitt'. More information on 'Delicious' can be found on its release article.