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yankeewinemaker · 10-31-2008, 10:02 AM

Has anyone had wine from the following grape varieties? I am thinking of starting a small vineyard (1/2 acre) in upstate NY. The Vitis Vinefera varieties are not hardy enough for the area. I have researched the following and I think they will grow in my area however I have never had wine from these varieties. Any feedback would beappreciated.

Fronternac
Marquette

Frorntenac Gris
La Crescent

Thanks in advance.

NorthernWinos · 10-31-2008, 10:37 AM

Welcome...

Your 'Answer Man' would be appleman.....Check out his Posts.....He has grown many varieties over the year and has grown into quite an operation....

He has grown and made wine from those varieties....

Happy reading...

http://www.finevinewines.com//Wiz/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=1474

grapeman · 10-31-2008, 10:56 AM

Where are you located Yankeewinemaker?

Let me be clear about something here- unless you are planning to make a lot of wine, a half acre is way more than needed for a home winemaker! In their third year with less than 1/2 acre in production, I got 4000 pounds of grapes this year in the Champlain Valley. That is enough for 250-300 gallons of wine. They aren't even in full production yet! I will have three times the grpaes producing in this coming year.

With that said and out of the way, all those varieties are good ones for NY. The possible exception would be LaCrescent. Why? Because they tend to frop grapes off the cluster before totally ripe here in the northeast for some reason. This is from personnal experience at the test vineyard in Willsboro and from other growers here in the Northeast. With that said, the flavor and versatility of the grape make some yield loss tolerable.

Frontenac is a high acid grape and has cherry flavors. It is hard to get ripe enough here to be without the acid problems. In my opinion, Sabrevois or St. Croix are better choices and give better wines with less problems ripening.

Marrquette. With one year's experience vinting it, I and other tasters are less than impressed with it. It does grow well and I havested enough good ripe grapes at 27 brix at Willboro to send to the Cornell lab for vinting. We will get results later this year.

Frontenac Gris- I have a batch going right now that I will be running through MLF. Initial tastes are great, but not quite as good as the LaCrescent. I had a bottle of 2007 mixed LaCrescent and Petite Amie-50/50 that was OUTSTANDING. Very fruity, great acid/sugar balance, excellent mouthfeel, etc. Petite Amie is now available at Double A Vineyards in NY.

Let me know where you are located (PM me if you don't wish to disclose that here) and we might be able to arrange a sampling. I have all those varieties andmore from 2007 except the Frontenac Gris, and that one is now clearing so it could be sampled in the future.

And Dont' Listen to Northern Winos- NW about me being the answer man, I just have a bit more experience in growing these things. I'm learning like all the rest of us!

yankeewinemaker · 10-31-2008, 12:49 PM

Appleman - I'm about half way through your "diary". Very impressive. I understand a half acre is a lot. I guess I used that as to not be too specific. I am thinking about 75 vines total, and see where it goes from there. I think that is less than 0.1 acres actually, according to Jeff Cox (From vines to wines, I've ordered Northern Winework at your recommendation). I live in PA however my parents have an orchard/hobby/fruit farmin NY, Brushton area (east of Malone). I have no experience with this but find it very interesting and am going to give it a go. I am going to try a few varieties next year to make sure they grow before I go all out. Can you suggest a few varieties, I would like to keep it to 2 reds and 2 whites for a home vineyard. My prefered wines for taste are Cab Souv, Chardonnay, White Zin, Chiante. I'm not sure how that translates to Hybrid varieties. Edited by: yankeewinemaker

grapeman · 10-31-2008, 01:09 PM

Brushton is actually about 12 miles West of Malone, east of Moira on Route 11. I think I can picture where the orchard is in my mind. I've been by that spot dozens of times. It is about an hour plus away to the west and is a bit colder than here, but not terrible. Who is going to tend the vines while you are not there visiting? Even 75 vines can be a lot of work, just ask another member- Joan.

For white wines, I would pick St. Pepin and LaCrescent. They compliment each other and make an excellent wine. Like I said, the LaCrescent will lose some grapes, but is fairly disease resistant and the two ripen about the same time up here. Each variety is good in it's own right and together they are even better.

For ease of growing, I would say for reds you could get Marquette and St. Croix. Frontenac is nothing like any of your varieties you like.

If you are coming up again this fall, maybe Thanksgiving?, you could take the Northway up to Plattsburgh before going Route 3 to Route 190 and then Route 11. I am about 10 minutes from Plattsburgh. You could stop for a quick tour of the vineyard and see how things are set up. We could sample a few of the wines you are interested in(or I could send samples with you for Thanksgiving dinner).

Edit:
Your parents must have gotten about 12 inches of snow the other day. We lucked out with only an inch and a half on the ground here!Edited by: appleman

yankeewinemaker · 10-31-2008, 01:19 PM

Appleman, that would be great. I will beup therefor the week of Thanksgiving. I would love to visit your vineyard. I will be in the area I would imagine once a month to tend the vines. Myparents are fruit farmers(raspberries, blueberries, apples, crab apples, cherries, honeybees, etc.) My mother is a retired school teacher and my father ownes his own business. They have volunteered to joint venture with me on tending the vines. I'm on my own with the wine which, as you can see I'm learning that too through the wine kits. My goal is to produce 200-300 bottles of wine/year of a few different varieties.

Again, thanks for the help.

grapeman · 10-31-2008, 01:36 PM

That all sounds good. I will PM you a bit closer to Thanksgiving with directions and best times, etc. SOunds like you have a good source for making fruit wines also!

AlFulchino · 10-31-2008, 10:11 PM

4000 pounds from just a half acre Rich?..i had estimated i was going to get 3000-6000 lbs per acre at my site...your saying you are going to get near 12,000 lbs per acre? cripes! what did i plant two acres for!!!!!

jobe05 · 10-31-2008, 10:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Al Fulchino

12,000 lbs per acre? cripes! what did i plant two acres for!!!!!

24,000 pounds .......

grapeman · 10-31-2008, 10:18 PM

It is worse than that Al. The 4000 pounds was from 250 vines! I weighed each vine individually and it came within 100 pounds or less from the 4000 pounds! Next year I will have close to 750 vines. The nice thing is we can reduce yield if we want and get the size crop you want.

You may need a few more of those flextanks before next year!