Steuben
Steuben is a dark-skinned American hybrid grape whose history connects fresh fruit with wine. Released in New York, it has an established table-grape identity in Japan and also supplies contemporary Finger Lakes wines. The grape's use depends on harvest and processing as well as the reasons it was originally selected.
New York breeding, Japanese table grapes
Cornell's variety register records Steuben as Wayne × Sheridan, released in 1947, with the selection number 12696.1. Cornell University, “Cornell Grape Varieties,” Steuben entry. Its 1979 New York guide describes bluish-black fruit, compact bunches, and sweet, spicy flavour, and explicitly notes an interest for wine as well as fresh use.
Tsuruta's regional Steuben account documents its subsequent Japanese adoption. In that setting, sweetness and storage life are central: autumn fruit can be refrigerated and sold into winter. A variety selected and handled for fresh consumption can consequently develop a different cultural identity from the same grape fermented into wine.
The distinction matters in tasting. Sugar in a fresh berry contributes directly to sweetness; fermentation converts much of that sugar into alcohol. Skin contact, pressing, and the fermentation endpoint then determine a new balance of aroma, acidity, and texture.
A Finger Lakes rosé
Usonia's 2025 Pompliano Pink uses Steuben grown by Corey Christie near Naples, New York. The producer describes foot-crushing, overnight contact with the skins, and pressing before fermentation and maturation in neutral barrel.2. Usonia, “Pompliano Pink 2025,” fruit source and production account.
This makes the wine a useful example of rosé through limited extraction from a dark grape. The overnight contact differs from fermenting a red wine with its skins throughout; the neutral barrel supplies a maturation environment without making new-oak flavour the defining feature.
Sources
- Cornell University, “Cornell Grape Varieties”, Steuben parentage, selection number, and release date, accessed 20 October 2026.
- Robert Pool, Keith Kimball, John Watson, and John Einset, Grape varieties for New York State, New York's Food and Life Sciences Bulletin 80, July 1979, Steuben profile.
- Tsuruta Steuben regional website, “About Steuben”, Japanese table-grape history, harvest, and storage account, in Japanese, accessed 20 October 2026.
- Usonia, “Pompliano Pink 2025”, Steuben source and cellar methods, accessed 20 October 2026.