Montreal melon, once again
Seems every summer a journalist rediscovers the story of the Montreal melon including claims that someone has revived it – but it never appears at the market or anywhere else.
At this point, nobody can remember how the original tasted – it’s a bit like fantasizing over pre‑phylloxera wines, when all you have to go by is verbal descriptions, which are notoriously subjective and vague.
Ian 09:07 on 2024-05-22 Permalink
There are still some pre-phylloxera wines, though nothing as well known as, say, Bordeaux…
vigne vecchie wines still available in some regions, particuloarly around Etna, Sicily.
https://www.wine-searcher.com/m/2018/09/the-prestige-of-pre-phylloxera-vines
This blog post is a fun read, too:
https://ubriaco.wordpress.com/2015/09/10/pre-phylloxera-vines-rare-but-not-extinct/
But the fabled Montreal Melom? Yeah, whatevs.
MarcG 09:10 on 2024-05-22 Permalink
The seeds are easy to find online if anyone wants to try growing them.
John B 09:56 on 2024-05-22 Permalink
I’ve grown them from seed, (I think I got the seed from Ecoumene), I wasn’t super impressed, given the way they are raved about in the press. It was kind of bland and not that sweet. Maybe I should try again.
carswell 10:55 on 2024-05-23 Permalink
Oddly not mentioned in either of the linked-to articles but Chile has no phylloxera. It was so remote in the 1800s that word of the problem arrived before North American vines and rootstocks did, leading to the latter being banned. Phylloxera did make it to Argentina and Brazil but hasn’t crossed the natural barrier that are the Andes.
carswell 11:11 on 2024-05-23 Permalink
IOW, most Chilean vines are ungrafted descendants of original European rootstock.