Issue link: http://winesandvines.uberflip.com/i/122527
WineEast Grapegrowing the remaining three years of the project, which is dependent on Congress' passage of a new U.S. Farm Bill. Wildlife Control • Bird netting • Side Applied Netting • BirdGard • Scare Devices • Deer Fence & Deterrents Trellis Supplies • Notched Metal Post, Wood • Anchors • Wire • Tools • Gripples • Dura-Line Training & Tying Supplies •Tree-fix • Wire ties • AgLoc • Klip-on • Grow Tubes • Training Stakes • Tying Products Spring Pruning and Tying Supplies FINGER LAKES TRELLIS SUPPLY BUY ONLINE! www.fingerlakestrellissupply.com 315-904-4007 info@fingerlakestrellissupply.com 92 W IN E S & V INE S MAY 20 13 4041A Railroad Ave. Williamson, NY 14589 What's a 'northern grape?' Thirty years ago there were two wineries in Minnesota and eight in Wisconsin, primarily because winter temperatures in the northern Midwest were too cold to grow Vitis vinifera varieties. However, some of the French and American hybrids would survive, especially if the vines were dropped off the trellis wire, laid on the ground and covered with straw or dirt to insulate them from the cold. Then, in the spring, the process had to be reversed—the vines uncovered and tied back onto the trellis. For most growers, this process was a huge amount of work. For a few, it became a challenge: Could grapes be bred to survive the cold, harsh winters and also produce wines that tasted good? Native grapes such as Vitis riparia had the cold tolerance but definitely not the appropriate wine aromas and flavors. The first riparia wine I ever tasted was a well-made wine, but it had the aroma of a freshly mown hayfield followed by grassy, herbaceous flavors. The grapes might get ripe enough, with sugar levels of 25° Brix, but the acids often reached as high as 2.4 grams per liter. As one winemaker put it, "Riparia grapes have a flavor level that will burn a hole in your mouth." The search for grapes that would survive cold temperatures and also make a palatable wine goes back to the late 19th century. One of the early breeders was Louis Suelter, whose variety Beta was a cross of riparia and Concord. The grapes were good for jam and tolerated cold winters but made inferior wine. However, Beta was used by Maxwell Dorsey as the hardy parent for some of the first crosses at the University of Minnesota around the time of World War I. One of Dorsey's crosses, known as Minnesota 78, became an important element in the breeding project of Elmer Swenson, who in some ways was the "father" of the northern grape varieties. Swenson was a farmer in Wisconsin whose passion was breeding grapevines for cold climates. He made his first cross in 1943, and after World War II he acquired about 20 different French hybrids to use in his grape-breeding crosses along with Minnesota 78. In 1969, Swenson retired from farming and went to work for the Horticulture Department at the University of Minnesota as a gardener. For the first time, Swenson had access to greenhouse facilities and received exposure for his projects. In 1975 his grape E.S. No. 439 was named Swenson Red by a committee within the university's Horticulture Department. Two more of his grapes were named in 1980: Kay Gray and St. Croix. Kay Gray is a second-generation grape whose parentage includes Minnesota 78, Golden Muscat and Onaka, a hybrid with Beta parentage that was developed in South Dakota. St. Croix is a fourth-generation cross by Swenson that includes Minnesota 78, Seibel 1000, Seyval and Seneca among its parents. David Bailly, a Minneapolis attorney who started Minnesota's second winery in 1977, recognized the significance of Swenson's work, and according to an interview from the 1980s Swenson was the first breeder to make crosses using riparia that did not contain labrusca as one of the parents. Under the leadership of grape breeder Peter Hemstad, the University of Minnesota has continued the program initiated by Swenson. Four additional varieties have