diff --git a/django/db/backends/__init__.py b/django/db/backends/__init__.py
index 23bfafbba4..23df66a762 100644
--- a/django/db/backends/__init__.py
+++ b/django/db/backends/__init__.py
@@ -11,6 +11,7 @@ class BaseDatabaseWrapper(local):
     Represents a database connection.
     """
     ops = None
+    vendor = 'unknown'
 
     def __init__(self, settings_dict, alias=DEFAULT_DB_ALIAS):
         # `settings_dict` should be a dictionary containing keys such as
@@ -20,7 +21,6 @@ class BaseDatabaseWrapper(local):
         self.queries = []
         self.settings_dict = settings_dict
         self.alias = alias
-        self.vendor = 'unknown'
         self.use_debug_cursor = None
 
     def __eq__(self, other):
diff --git a/tests/regressiontests/backends/tests.py b/tests/regressiontests/backends/tests.py
index e457629880..efa3e0c7d3 100644
--- a/tests/regressiontests/backends/tests.py
+++ b/tests/regressiontests/backends/tests.py
@@ -47,6 +47,15 @@ class OracleChecks(unittest.TestCase):
         self.assertEqual(long_str, row[0].read())
         c.execute('DROP TABLE ltext')
 
+    @unittest.skipUnless(connection.vendor == 'oracle',
+                         "No need to check Oracle connection semantics")
+    def test_client_encoding(self):
+        # If the backend is Oracle, test that the client encoding is set
+        # correctly.  This was broken under Cygwin prior to r14781.
+        c = connection.cursor()  # Ensure the connection is initialized.
+        self.assertEqual(connection.connection.encoding, "UTF-8")
+        self.assertEqual(connection.connection.nencoding, "UTF-8")
+
 class DateQuotingTest(TestCase):
 
     def test_django_date_trunc(self):