W i n e s & V i n e s A U G U s T 2 0 1 4 81
breeder in Minnesota. While
Elmer Swenson is often referred
to as the father of cold-hardy
grape varieties in Minnesota,
the basis of his grape crosses
was a variety known as Beta.
That grape was a cross of Con-
cord and Carver (vitis riparia)
made by Louis Suelter in 1881.
Swenson worked at the Univer-
sity of Minnesota from 1969
to 1978, and he introduced
several varieties including Edel-
weiss, St. Croix, Sabrevoix and
Briana.
Since 1996, Hemstad and
the University of Minnesota
have released four major cold-
hardy varieties: Frontenac
(1996), La Crescent (2002),
Frontenac Gris (2003, which
came from a mutation of a
single bud of Frontenac in a
research plot) and Marquette
(2006). Introduction of these
varieties and others have per-
mitted a wine industry to de-
velop in the northern Midwest
and New England as well as
other cold climates such as
northern New York and Quebec,
Canada.
In the winery
Challenging environments
in the vineyard can result in
grapes that present additional
problems for winemakers once
those grapes arrive in the win-
ery. Green, herbaceous flavors;
high pH, high acidity (or both
high pH and high acidity); dif-
ficult malolactic fermentations,
and color and phenolic issues
are some of the major problems
that winemakers must handle.
Additional speakers from
ASEV's Winemaking for Chal-
lenging Environments Sympo-
sium addressed ways to
improve must and wine quality
in the winery, and these topics
will be addressed in a follow-up
article in Wines & Vines.
WE
WineEast
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Bird
Netting
