''Royalty'' (also known as ''Royalty 1390'') is a rouge Californian wine

grape variety This list of grape varieties includes cultivated grapes, whether used for wine, or eating as a table grape, fresh or dried (raisin, currant, sultana). For a complete list of all grape species including those unimportant to agriculture, see Vit ...

that was developed in 1938 by Dr.

Harold P. Olmo Harold Olmo (July 31, 1909 – June 30, 2006) was an American viticulturist and professor at the University of California, Davis where he created many new grape varieties known today as Olmo grapes. In the 1950s, he helped to establish Califo ...

of the

University of California, Davis The University of California, Davis (UC Davis, UCD, or Davis) is a public land-grant research university near Davis, California. Named a Public Ivy, it is the northernmost of the ten campuses of the University of California system. The inst ...

Vitis International Variety Catalogue The Vitis International Variety Catalogue (VIVC) is a database of various species and varieties/cultivars of grapevine, the genus ''Vitis''. VIVC is administered by the Geilweilerhof Institute for Grape Breeding (''Institut für Rebenzüchtung G ...

(VIVC)
Royalty
'' Accessed: August 17th, 2012 The grape is a red fleshed teinturier which, unlike most red wine grapes, will produced red-tinged

colored wine The color of wine is one of the most easily recognizable characteristics of wines. Color is also an element in wine tasting since heavy wines generally have a deeper color. The accessory traditionally used to judge the wine color was the tastevin ...

even without maceration time on the skins. The grape is a hybrid being produced from the ''

Vitis vinifera ''Vitis vinifera'', the common grape vine, is a species of flowering plant, native to the Mediterranean Basin, Mediterranean region, Central Europe, and southwestern Asia, from Morocco and Portugal north to southern Germany and east to northern ...

'' Trousseau gris variety from the

Jura wine Jura may refer to: Places *Jura, Scotland, island of the Inner Hebrides off Great Britain * Jūra, river in Lithuania Mountain ranges *Jura Mountains, on the French–Swiss–German border * Franconian Jura, south-central Germany *Swabian Jura, ...

region of

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan ar ...

J. Robinson ''Jancis Robinson's Guide to Wine Grapes'' pg 161 Oxford University Press 1996 and the teinturier grape Alicante Ganzin that, itself, is a hybrid of a ''

Vitis rupestris ''Vitis rupestris'' is a species of grape native to the United States that is known by many common names including July, Coon, sand, sugar, beach, bush, currant, ingar, rock, and mountain grape. It is used for breeding several French-American hy ...

'' variety and the ''Vitis vinifera'' grape Aramon. J. Robinson ''Vines Grapes & Wines'' pg 226 Mitchell Beazley 1986

History

''Royalty'' was first cultivated by Dr. Olmo in 1938 at the California Agricultural Experiment Station of UC-Davis but wasn't released for commercial use until 1958. It was released at the same time as Rubired another Olmo teinturier with Alicante Ganzin parentage. Like Rubired, ''Royalty'' was mostly grown in the Central Valley of California where it was used a blending grape to improve the color of red wines. However, ''Royalty'' showed itself to be more difficult to cultivate than Rubired and fell out of favor among many growers. While by the end of the 20th century there was still more than 6,000 acres (2,500 hectares) of Rubired in production in California there were only around 800 acres (320 ha) of ''Royalty'' in use.

Synonyms

Among the synonyms that Royalty has been known as include California S 26, Kek Royalti and Royalti.

References

{{reflist Red wine grape varieties Hybrid grape varieties