Alexander (also known as
Tasker's Grape) is a spontaneous cross of vines from which the first commercial wines in
America were made. It was discovered in 1740 in the neighborhood of Springgettsbury,
Philadelphia, in a vineyard where James Alexander (d. 1778),
Thomas Penn's gardener, had originally planted
cuttings of
Vitis vinifera in 1683. It was popularized by the Bartram family at Bartram's Garden, Philadelphia, and widely distributed after the American Revolution by William Bartram.