Chelois - Who is growing and making wine?

[bshef]

I just planted my first quarter acre of vines and one of the varieties is called Chelois. I've never tasted it and con only find two wineries in the country that make Chelois wine. Fortunately one is Hudson-Chatham Winery in Ghent, NY. Although it is a ways from Virginia, I'm planning a visit in the Fall to try their award winning Chelois. The other winery is Kings Raven in Oregon. Is anyone growing? Are there other wineries making Chelois? I'm excited about my 25 vines and plan to add more next year.

This is from the Cornell website:
Chelois (Seibel 10878) wine quality ranks highly among the French-American hybrids. It has, however, experienced a major decline in acreage in New York as demand for red wine decreased during the 1980's. There has been a resurgence of interest in Chelois in the early 1990's as consumer interest in red wine again increased. Chelois is suitable for blending with other red hybrids (Chambourcin, Baco noir and Chancellor) or V. vinifera varieties. Vines are healthy, vigorous and productive, but require cluster thinning to prevent overcropping. Berry splitting and subsequent bunch rots may be severe in some years. Because of susceptibility to winter damage, Chelois should be planted on better sites. Small blue-black berries are borne on compact, medium-sized clusters.

 

[Cynewulf]

Did you ever make it up to NY to try the Chelois and Baco Noir? If so, what was the verdict? I’m in Northern Virginia and happy with the disease resistance of my Marquette vines but getting frustrated with my Cabernet Franc and toying with the idea of replacing them with an easier hybrid like Baco Noir. I’m also curious whether the new French hybrids like Artaban will make their way over to us.

 

[VinesnBines]

We made the trip last October to Catskill and were able to meet Steve Casscles and see his vineyard. We tasted Chelois and Baco Noir. Both make marvelous wines. Chelois is fruity and Baco is so dry you need water after drinking. My Chelois is doing great in the second year. The Baco (Double A vines) were in bud when I planted this Spring. They literally hit the (clay) ground running. I’m really excited about both varieties. Stay tuned. I hope they both love the Virginia mountains.

 

[Cynewulf]

Very cool. Had you considered Regent at all? That’s another that I think looks really interesting. Also, how has your Cab Franc done?

 

[VinesnBines]

Regent was on my list; I think I wanted a little better disease resistance. The Cab Franc are surviving. The two year vines were slow to recover from the Mother’s Day freeze. They did recover but very late to leaf out.
By the way. I’m the original poster. Had to change my account- tech issues.

 

[Cynewulf]

Thanks; I had a notion you were likely the original poster. I think you made the right choice focusing on disease resistance here in Virginia. I exchanged a couple of emails with Tremain Hatch from Virginia Tech in 2016 when I was planning the vineyard and he encouraged me to consider hybrids because of the disease pressure we face and now I wish I’d taken the warning more seriously. I lost half my Cab Franc vines in the first two years and replaced them with mostly Marquette and Itasca which are doing great - night and day. After letting 3.5 lbs of Marquette ripen this year I’m both excited and a little nervous about the acid but we’ll see how it goes next year when the vines are a little more mature and I have some thoughts on how to manage it in the winery. I may give my remaining Cab Franc another year to get their act together then replace them if things don’t improve.

I got to meet a winemaker near Leesburg a few weeks ago and he is planning to plant an acre of Baco Noir to supplement their vinifera plantings as, like you, he was able to taste some in NY and felt it was one of the few hybrids he’d tasted that he could see using both by itself as a varietal and as a blending grape.

 

[VinesnBines]

Our vineyard is in the Southwest part of Virginia (Washington County) at 2000 feet so I was searching for cold hardy, disease resistant varieties. We planted some Marquette this year. We planted several varieties to get a feel of what will do well. After the great Mother’s Day freeze and two earlier frosts, I decided it was smart to try many different varieties. I need to evaluate hardiness and productivity. We now have an acre and plan/hope to eventually get to 2.5 or 3 acres. The next plantings will probably expand the white varieties. I’m sure Tramminette and Vidal will do well and make good wine. I may wait on expanding the reds until I have a crop or two.
I haven’t given up on vinifera either! Still evaluating.