Onaka is one of a number of hardy hybrid grape cultivars produced by the prolific breeder Nels Hansen at South Dakota State University. It is a product of a cross of Beta

Beta (grape)

Beta is a winter-hardy variety of North American grape derived from a cross of the Vitis labrusca-based cultivar Concord and a selection of Vitis riparia, the wild riverbank grape, called Carver). It is an extremely cold-hardy grape that is self-fertile. This variety is grown successfully in...

 (a hybrid of Vitis labrusca

Vitis labrusca

Vitis labrusca is a species of grapevines belonging to the Vitis genus in the flowering plant family Vitaceae. The vines are native to the eastern United States and are the source of many grape cultivars, including Catawba and Concord grapes, and many hybrid grape varieties such as Agawam,...

and Vitis riparia

Vitis riparia

Vitis riparia Michx, also commonly known as River Bank Grape or Frost Grape, is a native American climbing or trailing vine, widely distributed from Quebec to Texas, and Montana to New England. It is long-lived and capable of reaching into the upper canopy of the tallest trees...

known for its cold hardiness) and Salem (a Vitis labrusca x Vitis vinifera

Vitis vinifera

Vitis vinifera is a species of Vitis, native to the Mediterranean region, central Europe, and southwestern Asia, from Morocco and Portugal north to southern Germany and east to northern Iran....

hybrid). Although never widely cultivated and today largely forgotten, it has contributed to the cold climate grape breeding efforts of breeders such as Elmer Swenson

Elmer Swenson

Elmer Swenson was a pioneering grape breeder who introduced a number of new cultivars, effectively revolutionizing grape growing in the Upper Midwest of the United States and other cold and short-seasoned regions....

 and is a likely parent of his variety Kay Gray

Kay Gray

Kay Gray was developed by the Wisconsin grape breeder Elmer Swenson circa 1980 and is named after a family friend. It is a seedling of Swenson's own ES 217 . Swenson collected open-pollinated seeds from this vine, and one seedling eventually became Kay Gray...

.