dinafine - the rye starter got going on the natural yeasts already present on the grapes and probably the rye too.
i've started quite a few starters over the years, usually using vegetable, fruit or whole grains along with the flour, and have always had good results. i've also used 2 commercial starters that i bought on impulse; they were good too. the only time i ended up with something bad was when i tried using white flour, water and whatever was floating in the air. took like a week or more to do anything as i recall, and then went purple and green pretty fast. after that, i've stuck to the vegetable matter approach.
Thanks for the info. I keep the rye starter in the fridge, and the one I started with whey also. I use them every couple of weeks. I also have a starter from a recipe book that we bought in Alaska called Sourdough Jack Cookery. the starter was dried and reconstituted back in the 70's, dried again, and I decided to reconstitute it again less than a year ago. Its really going great amazingly enough, I keep that in the fridge also.]