United States Stamps: Grapes as the Earliest Fruit Culture (2016)

Grapes as the earliest fruit culture! New tasty stamp released by USPS

26.02.2016

Grapes are one of the most ancient crops known. They can be eaten fresh as table grapes or enjoyed in a variety of products such as juice, jelly, and the ultimate processed grape product, wine ‒ created from the controlled fermentation of grape juice. It is worth naming to be one of the most popular fruits in the world.

This issue by USPS that depicts two clusters of deep-purple Pinot noir growing on vines among several green leaves. The artist used pen and ink and watercolor to produce the original art.

A member of the genus Vitis, grapes have been cultivated for thousands of years dating back to the very beginning of civilization. The Pinot noir grapes pictured in the stamp art are aptly named. The deep-purple fruit-noir, French for “black”‒ grow in tight clusters shaped like a pine cone; pinot is a variant of pineau, the diminutive of pin, which means “pine” in French. The name refers to both the grape and the wine it produces.

Believed to be one of the oldest cultivated grapes in the Vitis genus, the Pinot noir grape can produce one of the most highly prized and elegant wines in the world. Once thought to grow well only in Burgundy, France, the Pinot noir grape is now successfully grown in cooler climates around the world, including areas of the United States-northern California, New York, and Oregon, among others.

Art director Derry Noyes designed this stamp with an existing illustration by John Burgoyne.