Clinton began to attract attention in New York about 1840. J. W. Bissell, of Rochester, in the Horticulturist of January, 1848, writes that the vine from which cuttings were taken was found by L. B. Langworthy, in the garden of a Mr. Peebles above Waterford on the Hudson. The name Clinton was given by Langworthy, who introduced it to the trade around Rochester about 1835. There were other cultivated varieties growing in the Peebles garden and the Clinton was not supposed to be a seedling. Although this account of the origin of the Clinton was published in the then most popular horticultural publication in the United States, there were no denials nor corrections made in any of the succeeding numbers. In 1863 there appeared in the Elmira Advertiser an account of the origin of this variety in which it was stated that the seed from which this variety had sprung was planted by Hugh White, then a member of Congress, in his father’s garden in Whitesboro, in 1819. Two years later, so the story runs, when he was a junior in Hamilton College, Clinton, New York, White transplanted the vine east of the house of Dr. Noyes, with whom he then boarded. There were no denials of this report, probably on account of the fact that the introducer at Rochester was dead; and the account and Whitesboro as the place of origin were later generally accepted by horticultural writers. In 1852 the Ohio Pomological Society determined that the Worthington and the Clinton grapes were identical. Later this was generally accepted by viticulturists as being correct. The Worthington is an old sort known to Adlum and Prince, and was said by the latter to have originated in the vicinity of Annapolis, Maryland.
Clinton was placed on the grape list of the American Pomological Society fruit catalog in 1862, where it has since been retained.
Clinton is usually considered a Riparia, as most of the botanical characters indicate this species. However, occasional canes with continuous tendrils are characteristic of Labrusca.
Vine a rank grower, healthy, hardy, productive. Canes long, numerous, slender to medium, brown to reddish-brown; nodes enlarged, slightly flattened; internodes of average length; diaphragm thick to medium; pith large; shoots smooth; tendrils usually intermittent but sometimes continuous, bifid.
Leaf-buds rather large and short, thick, obtuse to conical, open early. Young leaves very faintly tinged with carmine on lower side only. Leaves hang until very late in the season, medium to small, thin; upper surface dark green, smooth; lower surface pale green, not pubescent; veins indistinct; petiolar sinus deep, medium to narrow, often urn-shaped; basal and lateral sinuses shallow to medium when present; teeth of average depth, rather wide. Flowers fertile, open early; stamens upright.
Fruit colors early but is not edible until after mid-season. Clusters medium to small, of fair length, slender, cylindrical, uniform, usually single-shouldered, compact; peduncle medium to short, intermediate in thickness; pedicel nearly short, very slender, almost smooth; brush tinged with red. Berries small to medium, roundish to slightly oval, dark purplish-black to black, glossy, covered with rather thick blue bloom, adhere well to pedicel, firm. Skin very thin, tough, nearly free from pulp, contains considerable wine-colored pigment, somewhat astringent. Flesh darkish green, very juicy, fine-grained, slightly tough and solid, with some Riparia flavor, spicy, vinous, too tart for dessert use. Seeds adherent, average two in number, intermediate in size, short, blunt, brownish; raphe obscure; chalaza of average size, above center, pear-shaped to long oval, distinct. Must, 93°-98°.