Graffenried wanted to crossbreed European grapes with wild, native grapes and start a vineyard.
At the time, some popular European grapes were regarded as a threat to the stability of the wine industry.
Good European grapes like cabernet and shiraz were frowned upon.
The 'list' at this svelte wine bar/bottle shop changes regularly and favours European grapes with erudite advice on same.
In California he introduced more than three hundred varieties of European grapes.
Since the days of the Conquistadors and the padres who accompanied them, the European grapes had flourished in California.
Chardonnay is a European grape, and no one seems to know when it first turned up in this country.
The company owns 537 ha of vineyards of various of sorts of local and European grapes.
More than a few important European grapes are little known outside their home territories.
But cabernet and chardonnay, just to take two, are really European grapes transplanted to our shores.