White wine the death knell of northern viticulture. The vine disappeared from northern Germany and Baden, and the maximum altitude for viticulture descended to 220 metres. Hans-Jürgen Otto noted that: "all the vineyards suffered and decreased in area". In England the vine also disappeared. The less early vineyards preferred to select white varieties of grapes because, even if unripe, white grapes allowed wine that was a little sour to still be consumable, while red grapes do not give enough colour and green tannins make the wine bitter. The interruption of the fermentation by a cold winter led to the discovery of the
Seibel grapes or two of Albert Seibel’s grapes together and name their creations after themselves, e.g., Seyve-Villard 5276 (“Seyval Blanc”). Seibel grapes Seibel grapes are a group of wine grape varieties which originated with the work of Albert Seibel crossing European grape with American grape species to increase disease resistance. They were planted widely in France during the 1950s but have seen decline in recent years because French wine law proscribes hybrid grapes in appellation wine. The grapes are still commonly used as blending grapes in table wine and mass commercial wines. New Zealand, England, and Canada also have plantings of Seibel