Anyone tried Marquette?

[Allen]

I like what I am reading about the Marquette grapes. Anyone made or triedwine from these yet?

 

[grapeman]

Ihave had the opportunity to make Marquette wine a couple times so far and will hopefully get to make some more this year.


The hype over this variety is staggering, but it appears to give one of the better choices for a vinifera like wine from a hybrid. I believe it is overarated myself. Whenever anyone tries it, they all say it is a good drinkable wine, but short of anything special. To get that bit of something extra, I think it will need to be blended with another grape. The brix gets great,especially where you are, but the acids remain somewhat high but workable. The cherries here in the north aren't as profound as they could be and the tannins are a bit soft.


You could grow Corot Noir and Noiret there (Cornell grape breeding program). They both make a better wine than Marquette in my opinion, but aren't quite as cold hardy. If they would survive better here, I would probably grow them over Marquette. Noiret has nice tannin levels, plenty of black cherry especaially on the front end, black pepper and other good qualities. The Corot Noir is similar with a bit more tannins.


I am in kind of a unique positi0on to test many of these varieties as I am the caretaker for a 25 variety cold hardy trial in Willsboro NY, as part of the Cornell Baker Farm. I have had the chance to work with varieties not yet common. I also have about 30 varieties planted in my own vineyard. Go to the Home Vineyards section here on the forum and check out the My Champlain Valley Vineyard thread. You can go from ground breaking and planting through finished wines entered in the Winemaker Magazine Competition.

 

[AlFulchino]

funny that this topic should be started today and by the way...this grape could be grown *just* for its grape juice....FANTASTIC....i had people close their eyes today and taste the grape and then tell me where this grape came from...people who have made their share of CA grapes/wine could not tell the difference of its origon

....we just harvested 1 row of 25 brix marquette today (many more rows to go)....11.84 lbs per vine and a TA of .75....my ph meter just came and i will test it this evening .....probably in between bottling 50 gallons of some of last yrs sangiovese

 

[grapeman]

That is super Al! Not bad for three year old vines indeed. They really liked that couple of weeks of 90 degree weather you got over there. I wish we had gotten more of it this year, especially this fall. That is the lowest TA reading I have ever seen any Marquette get!


Here is the plant fruit trait description from U Minn.





Fruit traits. The clusters of Marquette are small to medium in size, averaging 89 g/cluster and 10.6 cm (4.2 in) in length. Berries are small to medium averaging 1.1 g/ berry and 12 mm (0.5 in) in diameter. Sugar levels have been high, averaging 25.9° brix. Acid levels have also been higher than most cultivars (12.0 g/l) although substantially lower than that of Frontenac (15.1 g/l). This level of titratable acidity has been found to be quite manageable by experienced winemakers. Marquette's average juice pH value has been 3.00.

 

[AlFulchino]

each year i have had them i have not had an acid issue...i was expecting something different and have no explanation for it ....we did two acid readings and came out the same...the vines all have good vigor...reasonable disease immunity and my only issue has been foliar phyloxera

easy to train, grow and ripen thus far

the taste has been super and we are looking forward to working with it

i just got done bottlingthe sangi so will have to do get the ph tomorrow before harvest

 

[AlFulchino]

3.22 ph

 

[grapeman]

Excellent Al. I wish mine were somewhat close to that this year! This has been the yuckiest year for all around weather I have ever seen here.










Good luck with harvesting more today. Did you keep those you picked yesterday out to mix with the ones from today? Now all we need is a picture or two.

 

[AlFulchino]

sure thing..i will post it here or on my little corner of this site.....the early part of the year was great...the mid was worse than bad...and in fact worse than the end of last yr....it was a real cool damp struggle that i would not wish on anybody...constant drizzle mixed w constant light rains and heavy rains....never have seen anything like it....there were weeks when a leaf never went dry

then, as if God Himself had said enough was enough August and September have been all anyone could ask for

and yes all will be mixed