the fact that it runs rampant along the shore would make me nervous.

without a positive ID, you should be wary and assume it might be Porceline Berry, which is incredibly invasive and is very hard to remove once its established. (at least in my neck of the woods, in which I battle this vine at almost every turn)

I think your right, sabe. I'll verify the ID before I do anything, but I think this vine would be best suited to an arbor or trellis. If I set it loose in the woods, I could be creating a Frankenvine monster.

Geoff,
while its not a hard and fast rule, I have found in my own experiences that "real" grape will have a darker, reddish brown color, with an almost hardwood look to the vine at its base "trunk", as well as have bark that easily peels off in 6-8" strips. At least that's how my mature grapes look.

as a contrast, Porceline Berry seems to just be very "viney" regardless of how mature, or thick, the base "trunks" become and the bark never seems to get that same texture as the grapes.

I'm sure there's other ways to tell, but that's at least the most obvious indicator when I examine the ones on my property.

Sabe, this is almost certainly wild grape. I've found it now in several locations, and had the ID confirmed by some old timers.

The bark is as you describe. Because the stuff is wild, native and prolific I'm kind of fascinated by it. I've got some stem cuttings in pots to see what happens. I'm new to this and have never done cuttings before, so who knows what'll happen ... But, I GOTS to know!

How did your cuttings turn out?

Wild grape is a fantastic source of art and crafts work. I live in Missouri and we are over crowded with the stuff. Some of the land owners ( who harvest their trees) will even pay you to go and harvest it. I have been making....O.K..... attempting to make my own furniture I just fell in love with the stuff.

I also live in MO and have an abundance of wild grapes. Year before last we had a grape fiasco(?) Boy was the grape jelly good! Last year wasn't so hot. They do have their uses.