The Isabella grape is a cultivar derived from the grape species Vitis labrusca or 'fox grape,' which is used for table, juice and wine production.

Appearance and use
The skin of Isabella, when ripe, is a dark purple, almost black, with a tender green-yellow flesh.  It has large, well-formed fruit clusters with thick bloom. It is a slip-skin variety, meaning that the skin separates easily from the fruit. The grapes are used to make wine, most notably Uhudler and Fragolino.  The Isabella, Vitis x labruscana, being of hybrid parentage, imparts a "foxiness" to the wine and because of this is thought to be objectionable, therefore, it is not seen as a grape capable of making fine wines. For the table, the flavour is good, though the tough astringent skin and "foxy" aroma are objectionable to some tastes.

History

Isabella has long been assumed to be a hybrid of a wild Vitis labrusca x Vitis vinifera. A vinifera parentage was inferred largely because of Isabella's susceptibility to mildew and black rot. Just recently, using microsatellite DNA analysis Dr. Erika Maul's group in the Julius Kühn-Institut (JKI), Germany, confirmed the vinifera involvement in Isabella's pedigree which revealed that the vinifera parent is the very rare French (white) cultivar, Meslier petit (a.k.a. Petit Meslier). It is thought that it resulted from random pollination when European Vitis vinifera grapes were attempted to be established in America. It was popularly thought to have been discovered by a Mrs Isabella Gibbs of South Carolina in 1816.
There has been, however, conflicting information with other sources stating that it was found in Virginia, Delaware and even in Europe.
Using microsatellite DNA technology, Dr. Jeronimo (Jerry) Rodrigues from South Africa (University of Cape Town) has revealed the identity of the second parent of the Isabella hybrid cultivar. 
Microsatellite DNA fingerprinting analyses using 12 molecular markers has indicated that the Isabella cultivar was, very likely, the result of a random natural cross-pollination between the so-called Ives' Seedling (a.k.a Ives' Madeira Seedling or simply, Ives) and Meslier Petit.  
This natural pollination is now believed to have occurred at the end of the 18th or beginning of the 19th century somewhere in the southeastern region of the US. 
What is particularly interesting is that Isabella is a half-sibling of another hybrid cultivar called Cunningham, because both of these hybrid cultivars share one of their parents, namely, Meslier Petit. 
It is thought that both Isabella and Cunningham 'experienced' a parallel history since they seem to have appeared on the radar within a couple of years of one another. 
Isabella vines were heavily imported into Europe in the early 19th century and it is suspected that the phylloxera was introduced into Europe on the roots of Isabella — Isabella having a resistance to the phylloxera.

Modern history
In the western part of the European Union, Isabella is no longer a commercially important grape as it produces wines with a noticeable labrusca flavor, which is considered undesirable by many Western European connoisseurs. New plantings were banned in France after 1934. As a high yielding grape capable of withstanding tropical and semi-tropical conditions, it has been planted in Portugal, Bali, Japan, and various locations in the southern hemisphere such as in Colombia and Brazil, where it is a leading grape variety. In the U.S. it is sparsely grown in New York State. due to its phylloxera resistance and its cold hardiness. In Peru, where is locally known as "Borgoña", is widely popular as a table grape and as the source of sweet table wine.

One of the most popular grapes in the former USSR, Isabella was brought to former Soviet nations of Georgia, Azerbaijan and Moldova from France through Odessa. That's one of the reasons this variety is also called Odessa among Georgians. Russian poet Osip Mandelstam had described Isabella as "fleshy and heavy like a cluster of night itself". Radeda, a dry red Abkhazian wine, is made from Isabella.

Isabella is also found on the south shore of the Black Sea in Turkey. The Pontic Greeks from Trabzon have used it for wine production named "zamura". The berries are known to be used for the production of Pekmez and the leaves for preparing Sarma.

Aliases
Isabella has over 100 aliases including: Albany Surprise, Alexander, Black Cape, Borgoña, Champania, Constantia, Dorchester, Fragola, Framboisier, Glippertjie, Glipdruif, Isabelle, Izabella, Odessa, Raisin de Cassis, Moschostaphylo, Kerkyraios, Tudum and Tzortzidika., Căpșunică (Romania).

References

Red wine grape varieties
Table grape varieties

hr:Izabela(grožđe)
vec:Ua mericana