June 2015 WINES&VINES 75
WINE EAST GRAPEGROWING
Joseph said he gets soil tests every five years
and petiole tests every other year. He and his
crew do spraying based on disease history.
Marquette is most prone to black rot and pho-
mopsis, he said, "And it's really important to
rotate (fungicide) materials." As for weed con-
trol, "We want the native plants to dominate,
to keep vine vigorousness down."
Canopy management is "more like a typical
vinifera than a hybrid. We don't have an op-
tion." While many growers emphasize high
yields on hybrid grapevines, according to Jo-
seph, Shelburne's Marquette grapes are "man-
aged to optimize cluster exposure, heat
accumulation and ripening. That requires a big
labor expense, but it is justified in the end
product."
Marquette is proving quite vigorous, Joseph
said, with the winery getting 4 to 5 tons per
acre, almost double the output of four years
ago, and "with a big improvement in grape
quality." It is usually picked in late September,
after about 2,300 growing degree-days.
Ethan Joseph is the winemaker at Shelburne
Vineyard in Shelburne, Vt.
KEY POINTS
Winemaker Ethan Joseph, who grows the
hybrid grape Marquette in Vermont, says the
cultivar is a "premium variety, and we need to
treat it as such."
Joseph says balanced pruning and leaf-pulling
after bloom creates a better environment
for cluster development.
He harvests no higher than 26.5° Brix, usually
before optimum seed and stem ripeness.
Joseph prefers a long, slow fermentation
for Marquette with extended maceration.
