Isabella, sometimes Isabel and Isabelle, widely distributed vitis labrusca american hybrid of unknown origin. It is said to have been named after a southern belle, Mrs Isabella Gibbs, and to have been developed in South Carolina in 1816. It can withstand tropical and semi-tropical conditions and has been planted widely, notably in moldova, brazil, where it is by a substantial margin the most common vine variety, and india where it is known as Bangalore Blue. In New York state, it was one of the first hybrids to be planted after phylloxera’s late-19th-century devastation but it has largely been replaced by concord. New plantings were banned in France in 1934. The vine is high yielding but the wines are very obviously foxy.
