FRUIT OF THE LOON VINEYARD

[NorthernWinos]

Got the local paper today and a new Vineyard just got planted a few miles from here. They are calling it Fruit of the Loon...after our state bird the loon.


They fenced 10 acres to keep the deer and such out and planted 900 Marquette vines. There was photos of a bunch of their friends helping them frncing, planting and putting the grow tubes around the plants. Their next planting will be Sabrevios and then La Crescent.


Will be interesting to see how these vines survive around here and what they intend to do with all those grapes.


I'll be trying to get some information in the future, I hope the paper does a follow up story.


Anyone tried these vines in cold areas????Edited by: Northern Winos

 

[Waldo]

You just hop on that ole tractor, chug on over thereand get some pictures of what them folks is up to NW..

 

[grapeman]

Very interesting name there. I hope Fruit of The Loom doesn't here about it or they may be doomed from the beginning.Those varieties all grow well in cold climates all being good to at least 30 to 40 below zero. The problem is getting the vines to plant. All but Sabrevois are hard to get hold of unless you go with live vines. One of the vineyards in Vermont planted a few acres of Marquette in the last couple years. I believe they also have LaCrescent. Sabrevois is grown fairly widely above the border in Quebec.


The Marquette are supposed to make a better quality wine than most hybrids. The LaCrescent also make a good quality fruity wine. The Sabrevois makes a pretty good wine if Cold Maceration is used with short skin contact time. If kept on the skins too long a Bacon flavor can develop. I guess if AAAStinkie was going to grow a grape, this would be the one for him. He could make it to go with the eggs.

 

[Joanie]

Wait a second...wouldn't fruit of the loon be eggs?

 

[NorthernWinos]

I also thought that was an odd name to choose...but everything in this state is 'loony', there are loons on everything.


I wondered about name registration infringements from Fruit of the Loom...but guess they can try it.


900 vines is a lot to start out with....by the looks of the people in the photos they are not young, hope they have lots of ambition....I only have 45 vines and a few extra cuttings and find that's enough for me to look after. Maybe they will sell their grapes to another local winery.Edited by: Northern Winos

 

[grapeman]

They will need lots of entusiasm, especially if 900 is a start. I'm seeing that with a lot of people. They want to get into their own vineyard and see these new varieties as an easy way to do it. Just throw them in the ground, add a few posts, a couple wires and everything else does itself!. It's easy to plant, not as easy to develop into a vineyard.


There is a guy not far from here from a neighboring state who planted about 500 vines, putting them on plastic and figured they would be OK on their own. What an overgrown mess!


Oh and the Loon thing........... ever hear the saying "Crazy as a Loon"?
Seriously, I hope they know what they are getting into and wish them great sucess as I do everyone who wants to share in this great pastime.

 

[NorthernWinos]

The other nearest vineyard/winery is called Two Fools...maybe they will sell to him. He is also a state Senator, so has a full time job, as well is a part professor at a nearby collage....Saw a story in the local paper that he has heart problems, so don't know how he or the vineyard are doing this summer.

 

[Wade E]

Those people are probably like my neighbors 2 houses down, They wear me
out. They are in their late 70's and are constantly doing work wether
it be gardening, mowing their lawn or mowing the woods behind all are
houses on the street. They made trails with woodchips for probably a
mile into the woods and have outlined these trails with flowers and I
even built a bridge over a stream for them when I 1st moved here so
that they could go farther into the woods which they have.

 

[Joanie]

I wondered about name registration infringements from Fruit of the Loom...but guess they can try it.

They may be able to get around copyright infringements as long as they give away a pair of undies with every bottle sold.