grapes

  • The Agony And The Ecstasy Of The Concord Grape

    The Agony And The Ecstasy Of The Concord Grape

    Ryan F. Mandelbaum

    In 1849, Ephraim Wales Bull strolled through rows of wild grapes in his Concord, Massachusetts, yard, each plant’s bare limbs spread out as if shrugging. After more than a decade experimenting with Isabella grapes that wouldn’t ripen outdoors and musty-tasting wild grapes that ripened too late, most people would’ve given up. Bull refused to.