Melody is a hybrid white wine

Wine

Wine is an alcoholic beverage, made of fermented fruit juice, usually from grapes. The natural chemical balance of grapes lets them ferment without the addition of sugars, acids, enzymes, or other nutrients. Grape wine is produced by fermenting crushed grapes using various types of yeast. Yeast...

 grape

Grape

A grape is a non-climacteric fruit, specifically a berry, that grows on the perennial and deciduous woody vines of the genus Vitis. Grapes can be eaten raw or they can be used for making jam, juice, jelly, vinegar, wine, grape seed extracts, raisins, molasses and grape seed oil. Grapes are also...

 variety produced from a cross of Seyval Blanc

Seyval Blanc

Seyval Blanc is a hybrid wine grape variety used to make white wines. Its vines ripen early, are productive and are suited to fairly cool climates.Seyval Blanc is grown mainly in England, and the Finger Lakes region of upstate New York, as well as to a lesser extent in Canada...

 and a grape called Geneva White 5, which is itself a cross between Pinot Blanc

Pinot Blanc

Pinot blanc is a white wine grape. It is a point genetic mutation of Pinot noir. Pinot noir is genetically unstable and will occasionally experience a point mutation in which a vine bears all black fruit except for one cane which produced white fruit....

 and Ontario. Melody produces a light white with notes of peach and honeysuckle, and refreshing acidity, even at low sugar levels (0.7%-0.6% RS).

The grape is noted for its resistance to powdery mildew

Powdery mildew

Powdery mildew is a fungal disease that affects a wide range of plants. Powdery mildew diseases are caused by many different species of fungi in the order Erysiphales. It is one of the easier diseases to spot, as its symptoms are quite distinctive. Infected plants display white powdery spots on the...

 and Botrytis

Noble rot

Noble rot is the benevolent form of a grey fungus, Botrytis cinerea, affecting wine grapes. Infestation by Botrytis requires moist conditions, and if the weather stays wet, the malevolent form, "grey rot", can destroy crops of grapes...

, although downy mildew

Downy mildew

Downy mildew refers to any of several types of oomycete microbes that are obligate parasites of plants. Downy mildews exclusively belong to Peronosporaceae. In commercial agriculture, they are a particular problem for growers of crucifers, grapes and vegetables that grow on vines...

 has been noted on leaves and clusters. It grows well in both sandy and clay loam

Loam

Loam is soil composed of sand, silt, and clay in relatively even concentration . Loam soils generally contain more nutrients and humus than sandy soils, have better infiltration and drainage than silty soils, and are easier to till than clay soils...

Regions

Melody is grown in the Finger Lakes AVA

Finger Lakes AVA

The Finger Lakes AVA is an American Viticultural Area located in Upstate New York, south of Lake Ontario. The Finger Lakes encompass eleven glacial lakes, but the area around Canandaigua, Keuka, Seneca, and Cayuga Lakes contain the vast majority of vineyard plantings in the AVA...

, with the first commercial plantings in New York

New York

New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...

 being made at Wagner vineyards by Stanley "Bill" Wagner

Stanley Wagner (winemaker)

Stanley Arthur "Bill" Wagner was an American winemaker who, in the 1970s, became one of the earliest winemakers to establish a vineyard in the Finger Lakes region of Upstate New York, in an area that would eventually become the Seneca Lake AVA...

 in 1984, with the first vintage released with grapes grown in 1986. The grape was also commercially planted in Maryland

Maryland

Maryland is a U.S. state located in the Mid Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware to its east...

.

Currently, the grape produces wine commercially in several states, including Kansas

Kansas wine

Kansas wine refers to wine made from grapes grown in the U.S. state of Kansas. In the nineteenth century Kansas was a significant grape-growing state...

 and New York

New York wine

New York wine refers to wine made from grapes grown in the U.S. state of New York. New York ranks third in grape production by volume after California and Washington. Eighty-three percent of New York's grape area is Vitis labrusca varieties...